By Elizabeth Dubrulle
Correspondent

A change in Goffstown’s government and several issues concerning the fire department are up for discussion at the deliberative session of Town Meeting.

On Wednesday, Feb. 9, Goffstown voters will have a chance to debate the issues and amend the articles that will appear on the ballot for the March 8 general election. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at Goffstown High School. The snow date is at the same time and location on the following evening, Feb. 10.

Thirty-one warrant articles will be presented to voters on March 8. The first 15 articles, all dealing with zoning issues, have already been debated at a separate public hearing.

The Feb. 9 meeting will address articles 16 through 31, and all registered voters are welcome to come and voice their opposition, support, or concerns. Voters also have the power to propose amendments to the articles and change them before the March 8 election.

Town administrator Sue Desruisseaux stresses that the meeting is the voters’ “opportunity to construct what will appear on the ballot in March.”

Changes to the articles require only a majority vote of 51 percent among those who attend the meeting.

Town charter change
Article 22 deals with the charter and proposes several changes to the town’s existing form of government. The town has operated without a charter for all of its history, relying instead on the original land grant issued by Britain’s King George III that established the town in 1761.

Under the new charter, the current governing body of five selectmen would be replaced by a body composed of seven councilors. The town would hire a town manager. Bond issues would become tougher to pass, with a majority of 66 percent of the vote necessary for adoption, rather than the 60 percent required now.

Petitions would also be more difficult to get on the ballot. Whereas all petitions currently require the signatures of just 25 registered voters, under the new charter, petitions would be divided into classifications, each with its own required number of signatures. Appropriation and zoning petitions would still require just 25 signatures, but initiative petitions would require 50 signatures, recall petitions would require 250 signatures and referendum petitions would require 500 signatures.

Town operating budget and other money issues
The town budget being presented to voters is for $16,161,550, marking an increase of 5 percent over last year’s budget.

In addition to funds covered by the budget, several other monetary issues appear among the warrant articles, authorizing the town to raise funds for road improvements, land conservation, the Goffstown Main Street Program, and create a capital reserve fund for the restoration of Grasmere Town hall.

“The $15,000 allocated to the Main Street Program represents just a small percentage of the organization’s operating budget, and that percentage grows smaller every year,” says Main Street Program Director Cathy Ewing. “It’s part of the public-private partnership that makes the program work.”

It represents the group’s single largest donation and functions as important seed money that brings in other donations in its turn, said Ewing.

The proposed capital reserve fund for the Grasmere Town Hall represents the start of an effort to secure funding for the construction of an addition to the existing building that will provide for disabled access to the second floor. Currently, only the first floor of the town hall is used, half by the Merri-Loo Community Preschool and the other half as a meeting space for various organizations that rent it out.

The second floor contains a theater that could be used for a variety of community functions.

Emergency services
The status of the town’s emergency services appears in several places in the warrants. Although the ambulance service has received funding under the new budget, concerned citizens also submitted a petition calling on the town to reaffirm its commitment to the service.

The petition is in response to a suggestion by the board of selectmen in September to investigate privatizing the town’s ambulance services, a move that Goffstown Fire Chief Frank Carpentino said has never been discussed with the fire department.

Carpentino said that such a change would have a dramatic impact on the fire department as a whole.

“Without ambulance services, the department will lose revenue and have a more difficult time attracting employees, as many fire personnel are also medically trained for emergency services and would want to work where they can use their skills,” he said.

The town’s ambulance services currently generate substantial profits that are redistributed to emergency services in general.

Carpentino also said that private ambulance services are more likely to have hidden costs.

“Everything is extra,” he said. “If you want the ambulance stationed in town rather than in a neighboring community, it costs more. If you want a higher level of personnel, it costs more. If you want shorter response times, it costs more. Taxpayers have to decide what they’re willing to pay and what they will accept for services.”

Another petition mandates selectmen to present a plan to keep at least one fire station in Goffstown manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And finally, a third petition, which did not receive the recommendation of either the selectmen or the budget committee, authorizes the town to raise and appropriate funds for two new pieces of fire equipment to replace two outdated engines that are in such bad shape they are no longer in service.

Deputy Fire Chief Mark Hurley said that the longer the town waits to replace this equipment, the more difficult it will be.

“Remember,” he said, “every year it gets put off, the other trucks in our fleet are getting older too.”

Following the meeting on Feb. 9, the town administrator will issue a voters’ guide containing the exact wording of each warrant article as amended at the meeting, an easy-to-read explanation of what each article proposes, and a list of all those running for town offices. The guide will be mailed to Goffstown residents well before the March 8 election.

For a full listing of all the warrant articles to be discussed at the meeting on Feb. 9, go to the town Web site at www.town.goffstown.nh.us under “Deliberative Session Warrent 2005.”