CONWAY — Residents on Monday at least temporarily put the brakes on the development of a new highway garage after amending and then rejecting an article aimed at getting the ball rolling.
Adoption of the original article would have moved $200,000 of taxpayer money to the Highway Garage Fund to fund project’s design phase and to hire a project manager.
Those in attendance at the special town meeting voted to accept an amendment offered by resident Tom Lesser, an attorney by profession, to change the $200,000 figure to $75,000. Lesser had originally also wanted to strike the portion about a project manager, but later withdrew that suggestion. He said he wanted to amend the proposed article to reflect $75,000 because he saw no need to commit $200,000 at this stage. Voters adopted the amendment but shot down the amended article, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
Philip Kantor was the only Selectboard member to vote against recommending the article, saying at a Selectboard meeting that residents had their voices heard on this matter in 2014, when a garage proposal was defeated. Kantor said he was acting in the best interest of the town, adding comic relief by casually admitting that his experience in construction “ended in Boy Scouts with Popsicle sticks and Elmer’s glue.”
Several of the 80 voters who showed up at the Conway Grammar School said they felt the Selectboard didn’t have enough answers.
“Give us the information to vote yes if you want to us to vote yes,” said Alexander Caswell.
Town Administrator Tom Hutcheson previously explained the town approved a highway garage study in 2012 and in May 2013 authorized $175,000 to develop construction plans. Voters opted twice in 2014 not to borrow money for the project after learning of the $2.6 million price tag. Hutcheson said the measure, requiring a two-thirds majority, failed by roughly six votes the second time.
He said residents in May 2017 voted in favor of a non-binding article to resurrect the highway garage project and this past May they agreed to raise and appropriate a $50,000 contribution to a stabilization fund from which the $200,000 would have come Monday night.
“That, to me, are two positive indicators that the town is ready to move forward,” Hutcheson said at last week’s Selectboard meeting.
Hutcheson said the current highway-fire departments building, opposite OESCO, Inc. on Route 116, has “been unsatisfactory for quite some time.” He said the idea is to build a new one behind the salt shed near the grammar school, allowing the volunteer fire department to have all of the current garage.
A new garage would allow the town to keep all its heavy equipment under cover, which it cannot now.
Reach Domenic Poli
at dpoli@recorder.com
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