BELLOWS FALLS — In a year when many boards are finding it difficult to fill seats around the county, Bellows Falls is seeing three candidates for the one-year seat of president and five for the two open two-year trustee seats.
The Village election is Tuesday, May 21, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Masonic Temple, 61 Westminster St.
Incumbents Roger Riccio, president, and Deborah Wright, as well as former trustee Lance Allen, are vying for the presidential seat.
For the two open two-year trustee seats, Leslie White, Charlie Hunter, Deborah Wright, Colin James, and former trustee Scott Falzo have put in bids.
Of the three candidates for president, neither Allen nor Riccio responded to requests for a statement as to why they are most suited to serve as village president, but Wright did.
She said a vote for her would “create a more effective conduit between the needs of the village trustees and the daily operations of the office of village manager. Bellows Falls is the central business district of the town. It needs someone who's focus is here, who has the time and energy and vision to steward a productive life here for every citizen.
“There was a time when the village was a self-sustaining high energy mecca overlooking the falls, ever changing, ever moving. We must return to that momentum by walking boldly into the future of alternative energy, local food hubs, community transportation, job-creating green technology and more. We must put the vibrancy back into Bellows Falls. I think I can bring that kind of energy to the position of village president,” she said.
Of the two open two-year seats being contested among five candidates, incumbents Colin James and Wright, and newcomer Charlie Hunter, responded to email and phone queries.
“I feel a two-year term is too short,” James wrote. “It takes your first year to get the swing of things.”
James noted he has lived in Bellows Falls all his life. “I truly do love the village of Bellows Falls. I also feel more younger people, such as myself, should get involved.”
He said that, for the past two years as a trustee, “I have served as the police liaison, and have served on the Island Committee. I work closely with Police Chief Ron Lake and supported his budget 100 percent. We need to continue to keep the village safe and the police are doing a great job.”
He said of being on the Island Committee that “It's been a lot of fun exploring new ways to clean up the island.”
He also noted that he voted to keep the village charter.
“I think Bellows Falls is a terrific village,” Hunter, a noted local artist, replied. “For the last 10 years, I've been a homeowner in the Village, after growing up 20 miles north of here in Weathersfield Center. I've served on a bunch of boards and committees, created the Roots on the River music festival, helped found the Farmers Market and tried to be useful one way or another during my time here.”
Hunter wrote that his background in management (“Okay, it was music management, but some of the personalities in that world are plenty challenging”) and his experience working on town projects “might be helpful as we look at the times ahead.”
He served on the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance board for “about six years,” and was president for one term. He was on the board of the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce for “two or three years,” and was on the board of Great River Arts for “three or four years” He is also on is the Opera House Advisory Board.
“I think what I bring to the table is a willingness to work with people,” Hunter wrote, “to delegate and to listen. I'm a small-business person making my living as a visual and graphic artist and entrepreneur. To run a small enterprise successfully, one has to establish any number of working partnerships based on trust and mutual respect.”
Of her village trustee candidacy, Wright said that “two things I have always lived by: actively researching the task at hand and unshirkingly voting with my conscience. It is these things no one openly asks of you but are required to do a job properly and with conviction, else there is no reason to run for office at all.”
Village Meeting
The Annual Village Meeting is Monday, May 20, at 7 p.m., at the Bellows Falls Opera House at 7 the Square.
Article 4 asks village voters “to approve the Bellows Falls Village Corporation raising and appropriating money to pay its indebtedness, and to pay all general and regular expenses in the amount of $1,945,357, of which $1,864,482 will be raised by taxes.”
The tax rate is estimated at 70.46 cents, an increase of tax over last year by 6.29 cents, “if the grand list stays identical to last year,” acting municipal manager Chip Stearns said.
He said that this is speculation based on the current grand list, and that filings will be lodged by May 25 and finalized by July 1.
Voters will also consider the following: to authorize the trustees to borrow $30,000 for a new police department vehicle (Article 5); to “raise, appropriate and expend” $1,500 to help support the Bellows Falls community gardens (Article 6); to raise and expend $13,000 to support enforcement of the Unsafe Building Ordinance (Article 7).
The money for the new police vehicle would not affect Fiscal Year 2014 tax rates, but would appear in FY 2015 through FY 2017 with principal and interest payments due, according to the village report. The money to support enforcement of the Unsafe Building Ordinance, if approved, would be used for any legal fees, or contracted services such as structural engineers, abatement officers, or hazardous waste services, Stearns explained.
Articles 8 and 9 are asking the voters to agree to dissolve the Mary J. Arms fund and the Sarah Burr Howard fund, respectively, with the balances to be applied to the Greater Rockingham Area Services (GRAS) loan with the Town of Rockingham Revolving Loan Fund.
The balances to be applied to the GRAS loan would be $38,540.79 from the Mary J. Arms fund, and $10,397.88 from the Sarah Burr Howard fund.
Stearns explained that this would effectively convert a receivable amount of money “into a liquid cash amount that we could loan again” through the revolving loan fund, making more money available to businesses in the Rockingham and Bellows Falls area.
Stearns pointed out the village attorney recommended that the voters be asked for their opinion via these articles. He explained that the Mary J. Arms Fund is an expendable trust, and the trustees can spend their money any way they want to, while the Sarah Burr Howard Fund is a restricted fund that required going to probate to get permission to dissolve the fund.
“That specific fund, we actually had to go to probate to be relieved of having to track $10,000,” said Stearns, who summarized the court's decree: “If voters approve, we'll allow it.”