By Matthew Spolar
The Concord Monitor
ALLENSTOWN, NH — Allenstown Fire Chief Daniel Hart, who took over the department in April, told residents at a deliberative session yesterday that in 50 years of fire service, he’s never seen a fleet of trucks like the one serving Allenstown residents.
“I’ve never seen one this bad as far as age is concerned,” he said.
Hart laid out a grim picture: twice last year — both times for at least a week — three of the town’s four engines were out of commission at the same time. The town spent more than $24,000 in 2009 to keep the fleet maintained, he said, costs that were contained because two firefighters are mechanics. Two of the engines date back to the Eisenhower administration.
Hart retired as the Sanford, Maine, fire chief in 1997, and headed the Millinocket, Maine, department before that. In five decades, he’s never had a piece of apparatus over 30 years old, he said.
“It’s not anymore a dependable fleet,” he said of Allenstown’s vehicles.
Hart’s remarks led to the most intensive discussion between residents on any issue at yesterday’s meeting, which was attended by about 60 residents. On the ballot, there are two attempts to bring new fire trucks to the town, one by applying for a federal grant and the other paid for entirely by residents. The fire department also gave residents the option of putting $50,000 into a capital reserve fund.
The residents’ only warrant amendment of the day changed the article that asks voters if they would approve purchasing a new $275,000 pumper truck. The amendment gives residents the option of paying for the truck over a 10-year lease. Either paid for up front or over 10 years with interest payments, Hart said he could likely have the truck added to the fleet within the year.
If voters approve applying for a $285,000 federal grant and the town is awarded the grant to buy a new tanker truck, taxpayers would need to kick in $15,000 to cover the remaining cost of the $300,000 vehicle.
Resident Valerie Merrill, a Red Cross volunteer who responds to fires in town, told the session’s attendees she has seen first-hand the problems with the trucks and advocated for purchasing new vehicles.
“We need to start voting for this stuff,” she said.
The proposed operating budget for the town this year is about $6.4 million, as recommended by the budget committee. If the budget proposal fails, the default budget would be about $6.2 million. Selectman Tom Gilligan said that, based on 2009 assessments, the default budget would result in a 50-cent tax increase per $1,000 valuation. The selectmen estimate that the tax increase under the proposed budget would be 78 cents per $1,000.
The budget figure recommended by the selectmen was about $52,000 less than the budget committee’s recommendation, and an attempt to amend the warrant article to propose the selectmen’s budget failed.
One of the positions funded by the budget committee’s proposal that the selectmen did not budget for was a town prosecutor. After the town’s former prosecutor, Katherine Rogers, became the county prosecutor last year, the town first contracted out to a private firm and now contracts for prosecution services with the county office.
Police Chief Shaun Mulholland told residents that the town not having its own attorney has decreased adequate prosecution, especially of DUI cases, because the county prosecutors are straining to cover the town’s needs.
Selectman Roger LaFleur said he had talked to Rogers about whether the town needed its own prosecutor.
“The Board of Selectmen view this as an unnecessary expense at this time,” LaFleur said. Rogers is “more than willing to work with the town and to do what’s necessary to satisfy the town’s needs.”
The meeting lasted less than three hours, and residents will have the opportunity to vote on the warrant March 9, between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., at the Allenstown Elementary School.
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