Belmont selectmen discuss town's Capital Reserve Fund

We would like to take this opportunity to clarify information contained in Mr. Condodemetraky’ s letter in The Daily Sun of Feb. 24, relative to the Town’s Municipal Facility Capital Reserve Fund which was created in 2006 by a vote of Town Meeting. At that time the Board of Selectmen, in accordance with NH RSA’s, were named as agents to expend from the account.

This fund over the course of the past 15 years has been used for numerous projects related to town-owned facilities; for example, just to name a few, roof repairs at the highway garage, cameras for the exterior of the library to allow us to monitor for vandalism to the exterior of the building and bandstand, work at the pavilion, including construction of the fire pit which had to be relocated from the police parking lot, heating and HVAC at the fire station and Belmont Police Department, lighting retrofit at the highway garage, the townwide facilities study, which identified the need and support for the construction of a new Police Station, renovations to the meeting room space on the 4th floor of the Belmont Mill and new office space on the 1st floor for the General Assistance Office. In addition to these renovations at the Mill, new security upgrades were completed to include secure entry and exit access, video monitoring of every corner of the building’s exterior and interior lobbies. This is just a few of the many facility expenses that have been funded through this account.

You, the voters, have chosen us, the Board of Selectmen to make prudent decisions on your behalf and to maintain your buildings and grounds to the best of our ability. We take this responsibility very seriously, which is why we began the most recent renovations to the Mill in a slow and methodical way so as to minimize the impact to the taxpayers. Is there additional work to be completed? Yes, but we plan to move slowly and address the remaining items in the most cost-effective way possible. The plan for 2021 is to repair and paint to the soffits of the Mill as well as any additional window work that may be necessary.

Our meetings are open to the public and each of the items listed above were at some point discussed in an open meeting and authorization was given by us for the improvements to proceed. We ask that you attend our meetings, provide feedback to us as we discuss projects that are under consideration, and most of all remember that this is your community and we run for elected offices as committed members of this community.

Belmont Board of Selectmen

Ruth Mooney

Jon Pike

Claude “Sonny” Patten