By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

To many members of the Medvil Cooperative Association, it’s all about ownership.

The Medvil Cooperative Association encompasses residents of the Village of Glen Falls and Medford Farms, both manufactured home communities for residents 55 and over. Members of the association will vote on purchasing the parks from the current owners on Saturday, March 11.

Members of the cooperative hosted a meeting on Saturday, March 4, to approve the bylaws and park rules, elect a new nine-member board of directors, approve the cooperative’s budget and discuss the upcoming vote on ownership.

Many residents attending the meeting spoke out in favor of purchasing the parks’ property from the current owners.

“This is a tremendous endeavor that has been taken on by a concerned citizenry,” said David Doiron, the ad hoc transition committee chairman who was on the ballot to be president of the cooperative’s board of directors.

In his remarks at the meeting, Doiron served as an unflagging champion of park ownership. “I passionately believe we care more for ourselves than a profitseeking landlord will,” Doiron said, urging residents to vote for ownership at the meeting of March 11.

The two manufactured home parks are currently owned by J.M. Kilmartin and Sons and Medford Farms Realty Trust. Members of the Medvil Cooperative Association filed suit in July alleging the owners violated an agreement to sell the parks to them.

That suit was settled out of court in December, Doiron said, clearing the way for this Saturday’s vote on ownership.

If cooperative members do approve the park purchase, the Medvil Cooperative Association will buy the parks for $11 million, with financing from Citizens Bank and the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, Doiron said.

Linda Stonner, elected Saturday as the cooperative’s secretary, said she has tried to keep residents informed through personal communications and the publication of the newsletter “Straight Talk.”

“One thing that’s important is to communicate,” said Stonner, a five-year resident of the park. “I know communicating with 300 residents and their spouses is difficult.”

Speakers at Saturday’s meeting included Tom Ducharme, president of Evergreen Management, Inc., the Bedford-based company that will serve as Medvil’s property manager if residents approve the purchase.

In his remarks, Ducharme noted Evergreen’s 21 years in the property management business, and cautioned residents that the process of becoming park owners may be a long one.

“You’re going from park renters to owners,” he said. “This is going to be a long and evolutionary process.”

Ducharme also noted that Evergreen’s agreement with Medvil includes a 30-day cancellation period with no penalty to Medvil.

Elliot Barry, an attorney with New Hampshire Legal Assistance who specializes in housing issues, also spoke at Saturday’s meeting.

In a speech of approximately five minutes, Barry congratulated the residents for considering ownership of the park, and outlined the problems of living in an investorowned park.

“Mobile homes are not mobile – and the people who live in them have inherently inferior bargaining power” to the park owners, Barry said.

Primary problems in living in a manufactured home park include having the park owner sell the property, because, “A manufactured home is essentially worthless with no place to go,” Barry said.

Also, mobile home owners are subject to rent increases at the landlord’s discretion, Berry said.

A Medvil Cooperative ownership of the parks will address the problems of living under someone else’s management, Barry said.

“No one will sell the park out from under you. You’ll make sure the park is as well-maintained as possible, and you could do something you could never do with an investor-owned park: you can vote the manager out,” Barry said.

“You have a fabulous opportunity. What you’re dealing with here is not life and death, but you have a chance to exercise control over your community. It’s hard – democracy is always hard – but it has its rewards,” Barry said, in a conclusion that brought the audience to a standing ovation.

The approximately 130 voters who attended the meeting approved all the warrant articles overwhelmingly. Those items included crediting $100 in dues collected in 2006 to the cooperative’s $500 membership fee; ratifying the cooperative’s certificate of organization; approving the budget; approving a conflict of interest policy; approving the cooperatives bylaws; and approving the park rules.

The meeting showed signs of reaching a deliberative fervor during a discussion of the park rules – namely, of the rules governing pets in the parks. As the discussion of the matter appeared to be heating up, one resident proposed to approve the currently existing park rules for later revision, a motion that quickly gained a solid majority of votes.

Although the plan of purchasing the property met with widespread acceptance at the meeting, the plan has not gained universal approval among park residents.

Roger Buxton, a park resident who opposes cooperative ownership, has written several letters to The Goffstown News against the purchase.

“Every time a question is asked about how is Medvil going to afford the park or how much it is going to cost for any repairs the answer is always the same. Borrow, get a grant, or there is a government program for that,” Buxton wrote in a recent letter, co-authored with his wife Marilyn. “We think that is a lot of money to borrow. It sounds like the more you borrow the deeper you burrow. The only thing we have to think about is how deep do we want to dig that hole.” Buxton did not speak at Saturday’s meeting, nor did any others who stand against the co-op proposal.

Cooperative members also elected members to the board of directors. Elected officers included Doiron as president, winning the only contested seat against Theodore Rohr; Ralph Smith as Vice President; Stonner as secretary; Patricia Upton as treasurer; Bill Goldthwaite as operations manager; and Debbie Cyr, John Kunelius, Gene Pelletier and Ron Tetu as board members.

Residents of the 230 households that make up Medvil Cooperatives membership will vote on ownership on March 11 at the park’s club house.

There are 300 households on the Medvil property; households can join the cooperative by paying a $500 one-time fee, Doiron said.

Speaking about the meeting on March 4, newly elected secretary Stonner said she considered the event a success.

“Members have been given the opportunity to make an informed decision,” Stonner said.