Littleton and Town Meeting Day
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- Published on Tuesday, 12 March 2019 18:29
- Written by Kiernan Brisson
LITTLETON - The town of Littleton and the rest of New Hampshire held their town meeting day on Tuesday, March 12th. Of course this is only a week after Vermont held thier annual Town Meeting Day, the two states have always been one after the other with Vermont holding theirs on the first Tuesday of March, and New Hampshire on the second. The excitement of town meeting, however, has not ebbed in the span of time.
The town of Littleton had an air of calming at the Municipal Town Garage, where voting takes place every year. Compared to last year when voters were electing candidates to national office and the state boad, there was a sense of urgency, however this year seemed to have more smiles on residents faces and a relaxed sense of confidence within the garage's walls. Among the items on the ballot this year, a few of the main focuses were improvements to made to the town, as well as changing the locations of a few key institutions within the town limits. "This year we are looking to improve and revitilize the downtown area and the buildings within that area," explained Andrew Dorsett the Town Manager of Littleton, "The other big push on the ballot is that we are looking to change the location of our Elementary School, the existing building is too old and has a lot of issues that would be very expensive to fix, it would be easier just moving to a newer building."
Many residents are a bit apprehensive to moving the Elementary School to a new site, not because residents question that a new facility is what's needed for students and faculty, but they know it will be an expensive process. "The existing Elementary building is over fifty years old." Said Perry Goodell, a long-time Littleton resident, "We know that the building is not going to last much longer, and a move needs to happen; we just want to make sure that we are getting the best deal possible and not rushing into anything that's going to empty our pockets by raising our taxes when their may be a better alternative out there."
Aside from the School looking to change locations, the other pricey item on the budget is the renovations to the Opera House. This is a much different situation, however, since a majority of residents are happy to allocate funds to this cause. "The Opera House has always been a major center of town for us," Dorsett noted, "because of how much it is used for shows, meetings, functions, even funerals; it has begun to turn a major profit and revunue for the town in last few years. It seems that everyone in town loves the Opera House, and frankly these renovations have been a long time coming since the last time that we renovated it a few years ago." Mr. Dorsett could not have been more right about this, many residents were waiting to see renovations to the opera house on the ballot so they could move the process foreward. 'In my mind we should have made these renovations years ago when we looked to renovate the building the first time, but now that it is on the ballot, you can bet that it has my support." Perry Goodell exclaimed.
Hopefully Littleton residents will be happy with the outcome of today's voting. Results will be posted on the town's website as ballot counting has been finalized.
