Bristol Town Warrant Takes Shape

By Thomas P. Caldwell

BRISTOL — Selectmen will be finalizing the Town Meeting warrant next week, including the final wording of an article to build a new town hall and renovate the police station.

The draft warrant seeks an appropriation of $2,650,000 for the final design and construction of the town hall and the renovation of the Bristol Municipal Building to accommodate the needs of the police department. That number is reduced from the $3.5 million project cost presented at the last public hearing.

Selectmen plan to apply $400,000 from the unreserved fund balance to reduce the amount that would have to borrowed to $2.25 million, a figure that Selectman Don Milbrand said would have very little effect on the tax rate. As a member of the Capital Improvement Plan Committee, Milbrand said they calculated that they could add $1.5 million to municipal debt without increasing taxes at all as current debt is retired.

Residents attending the two earlier presentations on the building project complained that it was too expensive for a town whose median income is well below the state average and with a large elderly population. The result, said Chairman Rick Alpers, is a box that contains the necessary space for town offices but eliminates the lobby and larger meeting room that the town originally sought from the project.

“The most extravagant thing is an elevator,” he said.

The new plans also fail to address most of the needs that prompted the building project: inadequate space for the police department.

“The whole reason was to solve the problems of the police department, and this doesn’t do that,” Alpers said. “We’re still not addressing our needs. I support what the committee did and know we can’t do everything at once, but let’s not lose sight that there’s more to be done.”

Another article would add $53,000 to the $80,000 Bristol received in a highway block grant from the state to allow the town to do sidewalk paving and drainage work on Central Street, completing the work that has been undertaken in conjunction with preliminary work on the Pemigewasset Pathway, a multi-use trail by the old train depot.

Fire Chief Ben LaRoche is hoping for passage of an article creating a deputy chief’s position which would free up other staff members to respond to fire calls and allow LaRoche to focus on fire prevention and recruitment of on-call firefighters. He said there is a shortage of call members and fewer of them respond to incidents, even though the number of fire calls is increasing.

The article seeks $41,801, which would cover the position for a half-year, beginning on July 1.

Other articles include:

Zoning amendments to allow brew pubs, distilleries, and winery/meaderies in the Village Commercial, Downtown Commercial, Corridor Commercial, Rural, Lake, and Industrial zones; address building heights; address sign specifications; adopt new definitions for kennels and stables and to allow kennels by special exception in the Rural zone; update language in the Wetlands Conservation Overlay District; and outline requirements for construction and siting of accessory dwelling units.

Place $25,000 into a contingency fund.

Appropriate $250,000 to complete the engineering and permitting of the Phase I upgrade of the town’s transfer station, with $193,000 coming from the Transfer Station Revolving Fund. The cost may be reduced to $193,000 if the town is able to so some of the work in-house.

Appropriate $140,000 to complete an environmental assessment of the second phase of the Pemi Pathway, contingent upon the town receiving a grant to cover that cost.

Appropriate $50,000 to establish a fiber optic network for town-owned buildings.

Appropriate $14,000 for a Fourth of July fireworks display.

Place $375,000 into various capital reserve funds.

27 January 2018