Fitzwilliam voters back broadband expansion, shoot down Tannerite ban

Fitzwilliam voters also passed a $2.2 million operating budget for 2021 and an article raising money to outfit the town’s police department with new firearms, while rejecting a complex petition to ban certain explosive materials.

Municipal officials conducted this year’s business meeting at Emerson Elementary School because the school’s gymnasium has a larger capacity than the town hall, where the annual session is typically held, and thus allowed for more effective social distancing.

Even with the additional space, high attendance for the broadband vote — the first warrant article considered Tuesday — exceeded capacity in the gym and required some residents to watch the proceedings from breakout rooms elsewhere in the school. Nearly 250 people participated in a ballot vote on the issue, which required a two-thirds majority to pass, voting 232–7 in favor of the Internet expansion proposal.

The $2.9 million project will be funded by $1.6 million in municipal bonds, to be repaid fully by the broadband provider Consolidated Communications via user fees, with Consolidated financing the rest of the project itself.

The project will not result in any cost to taxpayers, selectboard member Daniel Baker told town meeting attendees, unless Consolidated files for bankruptcy before the bonds are repaid. Noting that residents can choose whether to receive broadband service, Baker said the estimated user fees will be $8.75 per month.

Prior to voting, attendees also received information about the installation project from Consolidated’s senior vice president for consumer products, Rob Koester.

In response to a question from Clare Rose-Howard about its timeline, Koester said he expects work to begin in August, explaining that municipal bonds in New Hampshire are issued in the summer. He added, however, that the project could be delayed because many other towns are also installing broadband this year. (Among Monadnock Region towns, Charlestown, Gilsum, Marlborough and Troy had similar broadband measures on their warrants this year. Langdon residents also approved a broadband-expansion project Tuesday night.)

Koester told another resident, who voiced concern about the possibility of a disruption in Internet service when his household switches to the new network, that Consolidated typically does not disable the old network until its replacement is fully installed.

Rose-Howard also asked whether the broadband project would give the company “monopoly” power in Fitzwilliam, enabling it to raise prices significantly. Koester responded that since Internet prices are determined by the statewide market, and Consolidated competes with Comcast and other service providers in New Hampshire, a local rate hike would be unlikely.

“I can’t arbitrarily raise prices in Fitzwilliam,” he said.

Also on Tuesday night, residents voted 68–56 to reject a petition that would have asked town officials to ban the sale and use of binary explosives, like Tannerite. That product is often used in firearms targets because it explodes when struck by a bullet.

The petition’s main sponsor, Robert Nolan, said people in multiple neighborhoods — including his own, on Bowkerville Road — have been hearing loud explosions caused by those materials at all hours in recent years. He told attendees that the explosions have rattled his windows, a quarter-mile away from their origin, cracked others’ windows and made one of his neighbors fall from a ladder in fright.

Nolan said Fitzwilliam police have spoken with the residents causing the explosions but have been unable to curb their behavior.

“This is only meant to give the police department the tools that they need to bring the problem under control,” he said.

Selectboard members cast doubt on the proposal, however, saying they agreed with its intent but that it was unlikely to be a lawful municipal regulation.

Explaining that the town is required to include resident-submitted petitions on its warrant, Baker said the board had been unable to find examples of similar laws in other towns and that the explosives ban, if passed, would cause Fitzwilliam to incur “significant legal fees” by requiring lawyers to determine its lawfulness.

Selectboard Chairman Brian Doerpholz expressed support for the petition’s goal, saying someone in his neighborhood often sets off Tannerite around midnight, but added that binary explosives are regulated by the state, not local communities. Doerpholz encouraged residents to ask their representatives in the N.H. Legislature to strengthen restrictions on those materials.

“As much as we would like to curtail this … it is not going to be enforceable if it passes,” he said.

Voters also approved by voice vote a warrant article to spend $4,700 on purchasing new firearms for Fitzwilliam police.

Police Chief Leonard DiSalvo told attendees Tuesday that the department plans to replace its current Smith & Wesson model with Glock 17s after one of the existing guns misfired. DiSalvo clarified later that the incident occurred during a training exercise and said replacing the current firearms was a “no-brainer.”

Voters approved all other warrant articles, except a petition that would have encouraged Fitzwilliam police to enforce speed limit and motor vehicle noise laws in town. (The petition’s sponsor said he was concerned about drivers speeding downtown and said he introduced the measure to call police attention to that issue.)

Also on Tuesday, Nolan Louis Buonomano won a three-year term on the planning board, along with incumbent Robin Peard Blais, the board’s current secretary. Planning board Vice Chairman Terry Silverman lost his re-election bid, earning 126 votes — well behind Buonomano (271) and Blais (200).

Fitzwilliam residents re-elected Doerpholz to a three-year selectboard term, as he defeated Susan Silverman, 236–134. And incumbent fire warden Edwin Mattson Jr. bested Andrew Wood, 265–110.

Elected without contest on this year’s ballot: Virginia Doerpholz and Winston Wright for two-year budget committee terms; Richard Goettle, Richard Mays and J. Nicholas Noyes for three, two and one-year terms, respectively, as trustees of the trust funds; Edwin Mattson Jr. for a three-year term as cemetery trustee; Matthew Buonomano for a three-year library trustee term; and Greg Mattson for a three-year term as Plante Memorial Park commissioner.