In Pembroke, a five-vote difference at Town Meeting could derail the Community Center project, which was estimated to cost $21 million dollars.
WATD’s Lenny Rowe files this report.
Voters at Pembroke Town Meeting considered an article for an additional $2.6 million dollars for the Community Center project.
More asbestos than originally thought, and high construction costs increased the price of the $19 million dollar project, which was approved by voters in 2021.
It was a different story on Tuesday night.
Initially, the article for more funding was approved by a two-thirds majority with 222 “yes” votes, and 114 “no” votes during a standing count.
There was a bit of confusion, with residents calling for a point of order to question the count. Town Moderator Stephen Dodge told the meeting the vote was determined by the expertise of the Town Clerk and officials.
After speaking with Town Counsel, Dodge informed the meeting they could challenge the results.
WATD asked Dodge about the situation after the meeting.
“Believe it or not, there’s a couple of ways to figure out a two-thirds. There’s a right way, and the wrong way. We had figured it out the wrong way, quite frankly, and it was a difference of a couple of votes. I was under the original impression that a standing vote could not be challenged once the Moderator declared the results of the standing vote,” said Dodge.
“Town Counsel corrected me, that’s not the case. So we had another bite at the apple … the vote was challenged and we were able to do a secret ballot, which changed the outcome by quite frankly, not a lot of votes, but enough to negate the previous two-thirds.”
By secret ballot, there were 216 “yes” votes, and 117 “no” votes. The article failed to reach the two-thirds approval by five votes. 336 people voted the first time, 333 people voted by ballot.
At 2021 Town Meeting, a clear two-thirds majority was reached. A few nights later at the ballot box, the project was approved with 1,136 “yes” votes and 850 “no” votes.
WATD asked Town Manager Bill Chenard what happens next.
“It’s really a political decision. As a manager, I manage what people give me to manage. They’ve now said they don’t want to spend an additional $2.6 million dollars. The option is … we don’t do anything, the building as it exists now, we know is $1.4 million in contamination and cleanup,” said Chenard. “You can’t clean it up and occupy the building. To do that, you gotta take the roof off, all the bricks off, all the tiles off. So the building is going to be either boarded up as someone said this evening, or taken down. As far as building a new building, you can build within the $19 million, but that’s going to mean a dramatic cut in size, and people aren’t going to get what they voted for.”
In Pembroke, voters line up to cast secret ballots to add $2.6 million to the Community Center project. The vote failed to reach a two-thirds majority, with 216 “yes” votes, and 117 “no” votes. Photo credit: Lenny Rowe.
Voters were concerned with the potential of a Big Y supermarket that could be located near Washington and Barker Street. Town officials say Article 11, aimed at amending spot zoning nearby, had no impact on the project.
It was not approved by voters.
All other articles were approved – the Special and Annual Town Meetings concluded in one night.
