BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – Rockingham voters gathered on Saturday, March 1, at 2 p.m., at the Bellows Falls Middle School, to participate in Town Meeting Day, a Vermont tradition dating back to Colonial times. This was the first meeting to take place on a Saturday since the town voted last year to move their meeting day and time from Tuesday night to Saturday afternoon.
Possibly due to that scheduling change, Saturday’s meeting saw a larger turnout than in recent years. But two articles on the docket concerned issues many voters felt strongly about, which may have impacted attendance.
Article 9 proposed the creation of a single municipal fire and rescue department by merging the three stations of Rockingham, Bellows Falls, and Saxtons River.
Article 10 asked the voters if the town should move forward with the cleanup and purchase of the Bellows Falls Train Station building.
The debate around Article 9 was a bit of a catch-22, with those in favor arguing that a “yes” vote would spur the formation of a comprehensive plan, and those opposed demanding to see the plan prior to approving the merger.
Rockingham Selectboard Chair Rick Cowan implored, “We’ve been at this for two-and-a-half years, and held over 19 public meetings by my count. If you don’t trust us, I don’t know what to say.”
One resident responded, “But after two-and-a-half years, where is the plan?”
Rockingham development director Gary Fox reminded everyone that this would not mean a diminishing of resources, but the development of a new, more efficient, single fire department servicing all of Rockingham.
“Creating the fire department today isn’t dissolving the other departments,” Fox explained. “There will be things set in motion.”
Article 10 specifically requested $137,500, to match grant funding and loans for the required asbestos and lead cleanup and mitigation of the train station, allowing the town to move forward with the purchase of the building and lease of the land.
Many in attendance spoke out, claiming the project has been underfunded from the beginning. Some said several key factors are not being considered, including the expense of clearing the site contamination, which is an unknown variable.
One resident worried there were too many moving parts, undetermined costs for removing hazardous materials, questionable timing, and precarious funding sources.
Another commented that the town could not maintain the buildings it owns currently, and this project sounded like “too much for our little town to take on.”
However, others supported the purchase and cleanup of the train station. One Bellows Falls resident remarked, “As a community, when we see this kind of an environmental impact, we have to do something about that, so we don’t leave it for our kids to deal with.”
Other residents admitted the train station in the village was one of the main reasons they moved to Bellows Falls. “To be able to walk to the train station and take a train to, say, Baltimore…I think it’s a really powerful thing. I think it’s a beautiful station, personally.”
Fox recapped the history of funding for the renovation, and said the $137,500 was “the last dollar on that program. The grants are all in hand and secure.” Fox mentioned there had been discussion about opening a restaurant there, and that an improved facility would become a destination.
“In order to have economic growth, we have to build infrastructure and buildings that will bring people to the town. For our future, for our town, we could have a real economic boom.”
Ultimately, both Articles 9 and 10 were approved by a majority of votes. After a paper ballot vote on Article 9, the “yes” votes counted in at 191, and “no” votes totaled 103.
Thirteen articles in total had been warned, with Article 1, the election of town officers, scheduled for a vote by Australian ballot on Tuesday, March 4.
Articles 2-4, authorizing selectboard and town business, passed without discussion.
Article 5, asking for the appropriation of $6,817,593 in funds to repair and maintain highways, with $5,241,374 of that amount to be raised by taxes, was also passed.
There were 17 social service agencies listed in Article 6 allocated to receive a combined total of $99,219. After a resident questioned the amount earmarked for the Visiting Nurse Alliance (VNA), the recipient of the highest allocation of funds, $26,024, an amendment to the article lowering that amount to $5,000 was proposed but voted down. It was determined that the town would reevaluate the contract with VNA before next year’s Town Meeting, and the article passed as written.
Both Article 7, for town cemetery maintenance, and Article 8, supporting the Rockingham Free Public Library, passed, although there was a comment that, with an annual operating budget of $436,700 – $387,250 paid by taxpayers – maybe it should not be called the “free” public library any longer.
Article 11, allocating funds for the Meeting House Capital Reserve Fund, and Article 12, approving a five-year bond in an amount not to exceed $375,000 for town hall improvements, each passed.
When Article 13, aka “other business,” was presented, community activist, author, and long-time Saxtons River resident Louise Luring presented a motion calling for “the residents of Rockingham [to] express their whole-hearted support for the suffering Ukrainian people and their embattled, brave, and democratically elected leader.” Her request received thunderous applause, was quickly seconded, and enthusiastically passed.
Annual town and school district voting will take place at the Masonic Temple, 61 Westminster Street in Bellows Falls, on Tuesday, March 4, from 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. Results will be posted in next weeks edition of The Vermont Journal.