How we might help save $100K tax money in Keene

[Dave Ridley]

As some of you may know Kat, Russell and I were approached by a school board member in Keene, asking for support of a plan he and others have drawn up.  They want to sell the 34 West building which houses a small number of school administrators.  They want to relocate those folks to cheapers officers.  They say 34 West is too big for the numer of folks it has and too expensive.   They have , they say, had offers to buy it but not been allowed yet by the powers that be.    I believe the estimated savings are around 100 grand per year according to the committe that studied it, if I recall correctly.  I met the school board member , who gave me a copy of the report.

One person connected to this tells me some of the powers that be are resistent to making this sale for fear it would set precedent, put too much power in the hands of people who want to sell things and save money.  I dont have all the facts, but I understand if we wanted to we could get 50 signatures and have the issue placed directly before the voters in elections to be held, I believe, in spring.  The warrant article could say something like:  should the district sell 34 west?  if a majority of voters vote yes, it would force the school board's hand and they'd have to sell..   

I am not at all into this kind of administrative thing and dont want to do procedural stuff like organizing warrant article stuff.  I hate government that much...But i suspect this is an important issue and have promised to give PR support and raise a ruckus over this issue if it turns out to be a good issue and someone does want to move it forward.   I have contact information for those of you who think you could move this forward...folks who can tell you how to make the warrant article happen.   Email me at dada orwell *at* (nospam) earthlink dot net and I can tell you how to get started.  I'd like to be sure this is what it appears before we put our heart and soul into it, but if it is, then I can I will start some kind of campaign to raise a bit of attention to it.   There may be a deadline as early as this month to get the issue on the ballot.

[BlueLu]

Somebody who went to Don Gorman's talk yesterday may have some helpful ideas, or know more of the procedural stuff.....

[Kat Kanning]

Yeah, I'd like to hear what happened at that talk.  I wanted to go, but had a huge FSP board meeting.

[Dave Ridley]

Jim Maynard got a detailed email from me a couple weeks ago about this and is I think interested in pursuing this on the administrative side.  Jim are you all over this?   What kind of help do you need from others of us?

I got on WKBK and talked up this issue today.

[jgmaynard]

I'll call Karl Hecker soon, maybe this evening. Besides the move, I just got a major monkey-wrench thrown into my life for at least a while, so I'm falling behind right now....If someone has the time and energy to cvoordinate with Hecker, that's great, if not, I should be able to call him in the next couple days.

JM

[CNHT]

DAVE -

Please email me for more details and Ed can help you craft a warrant article!
That is what CNHT is here for and one of the things we can help you with.

- Jane

www.cnht.org

[Russell Kanning]

We are voting to sell the property and give the money back to taxpayers

In Keene
yes on 4
no on 5

[Kat Kanning]

DAVE -

Please email me for more details and Ed can help you craft a warrant article!
That is what CNHT is here for and one of the things we can help you with.

Others in town wrote these warrant articles.  Next year, though, we'll be buggin ya for help!

[CNHT]

Others in town wrote these warrant articles.? Next year, though, we'll be buggin ya for help!

Ok - I saw the message about how to vote on #4 and #5 (which I wish I had known for last night's radio show) but this is a general invitation to call on us for help with writing articles when needed.

I am going to try to keep a list of items people ask the most often about and perhaps we can have some workshops on these topics in the future.

Writing warrant articles would be #1 on the list, if anyone can think of any others, please quote below and add? :-)
- Jane

1 - Writing Warrant Articles