By ARCHIE MOUNTAIN
NEWPORT — Now that Newport voters have supported Phase 1 of a decades-old movement to outfit their town with a new Community Center, the hard job lies in wait.
By a slim margin, 457-443, a request to finance the next step with $200,000, got the go-ahead at the annual Newport Town Meeting voting session Tuesday in the Newport Opera House.
There were 915 ballots cast from a checklist of 4,091.
“Now we will engage engineers and an architect to develop a budget and design and bring that plan back next year for further consideration,” Town Manager Hunter Rosenberg said after the voting totals on Newport’s 27-article warrant had been announced.
There was no clapping or cheering by about 20 people who stuck around to hear the results of all 27 articles. It was now intermission time for a day or two before Phase II kicks in.
At this point there is no price tag for a new Community Center. That will come once the plans are in place. Along the way the public will be involved.
As a sendoff, Rieseberg had nothing but praise for Newporters.
“I think Newport is one of the most passionate communities I have ever encountered. The people are very warm and everyone is pulling in the same direction,
At the top of the long two-page ballot there was also a bit of action.
In the battle for a three-year term on the Newport Board of Selectmen, incumbent Todd Fratzel captured his third term with a 539-335 victory over challenger Cindy Conroy, wife of Newport’s Fire Chief.
There were only two other contests. Incumbent Margot Estabrook was re-elected to a six-year term for Supervisor of the Checklist, defeating Tobin P. Menard, 631-169. Charen Urban also downed Menard, 565-239, for the three-year term as a Library Trustee.
Virginia Irwin was unopposed for Moderator. She captured 752 votes. Paul Brown was the top vote-getter with 806 votes for trustee of trust funds.
The town budget seeking $9,675,266 passed on a 468-408 vote.
Article 22 passed by a wide margin, 638-227. With that support the town adopted the provisions of NH RSA 79-E, Community Revitalization Tax Relief Incentives.
On a vote of 652-235, the town will now have three solar arrays erected that will provide power to all town and school buildings in Newport. A complete story on this project appears in today’s issue on Page 16.
Although voters supported a request on a $843,500 bond vote for infrastructure repairs on Knoll Street from Spring Street to First Street, it failed. It needed 60 percent approval and fell short at 55.9 percent.
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