Voters approve lower budgets
by Joseph Gresser
BARTON — Barton voters, around 75 of them, met in the Lake Region Union High School cafeteria at 7 p.m. on March 4. It will be last time they do that.
The final order of business, after an hour and a half of discussing town affairs, was to move the time of next year’s Town Meeting up to 6 p.m.
During that hour and a half, Barton residents, chose a new select board member to replace Ryan Racine, who chose not to seek reelection, approved town and road budgets on voice votes, and hit only one small speed bump on the road to adjournment.
Also, during the course of the meeting, a new voter was added to the checklist and cast his first ballot.
Mr. Racine’s decision to step off the select board resulted in a contested election. Ted Gattino and Roger Bernier were nominated to take his seat on the board and introduced themselves.
Mr. Gattino said he is a former police officer and current businessman who bought a farm in Barton in January 2024 . Mr. Bernier is a long-time resident of Barton who previously served on the Development Review Board.
Moderator Jesse Coe heard and accepted a motion for a paper ballot and voters lined up. At one point Town Clerk and Treasurer Kristin Atwood, who was reelected for the next three years by acclamation, spoke with a young man, and handed him a form.
Cody Larocque, who was seeking to vote for the first time, went back to his seat to do the paperwork. He was joined by Ms. Atwood, who did her part to make him a Barton voter. Mr. Larocque then strolled up to the table, took a slip of paper, wrote a name on it, and dropped it in the ballot box.
When the votes, including Mr. Larocque’s, were counted Mr. Gattino prevailed by a margin of 40 to Mr. Bernier’s 23.
While ballots were being counted select board member Denise McDowell thanked Mr. Racine for his work on behalf of the town. The third member of the select board, Jeff Cota, was out of town but offered comments and information by phone from his undisclosed location. Ms. McDowell capped her praise for her colleague with the presentation of a gift bag.
Not long after, Mr. Racine had the happy duty of telling town residents that the select board budget was down by 4.1 percent compared to the year before.
Voters approved the $725,880 request by voice vote without discussion.
The highway budget was down 12.21 percent to $772,544.99, for which Mr. Racine gave credit to Ms. Atwood’s “diligence and grant writing.” The reduction in anticipated road costs was assisted also by the completion of the town garage and construction on the bridge on Roaring Brook Road.
While Barton was hit badly in the 2023 flood, Mr. Cota said there was significantly less damage done by high waters in July 2024. He noted the town replaced culverts after the first flood with larger ones that take much more water, thus protecting roads better.
A motion from the floor to raise the amount given to the town’s two libraries — the Barton Public Library and Jones Memorial Library in Orleans — from $22,000 to $22,500 was passed without dissent.
The only note of discord at the meeting was a disagreement over which agency ought to get town money to provide meals to seniors.
Glover-Barton Senior Services (GBSS) was named in an article that would have provided $12,000 to carry out its activities, but town resident Sarah Bailey said the organization stopped serving meals in the Memorial Building and only has seatings at the Glover Town Hall. She proposed giving the money, instead, to Northeast Kingdom Organizing (NEKO), which provides a weekly senior meal in Barton.
She said GBSS is affiliated with an organization that has a budget of over a million dollars, and suggested it didn’t need the town’s money.
Ozzie Henchel, who volunteers for GBSS objected, saying that that organization cooks and delivers Meals on Wheels to numerous Barton seniors. He said that while the Agency on Aging may have a large budget, that doesn’t mean its funds are all available to the local meal site.
Mr. Coe called for a voice vote and said his ears told him NEKO’s supporters were more numerous. A call for a division of the house confirmed the accuracy of the moderator’s hearing.
Before adjourning a motion was put before the meeting to start next year’s Town Meeting an hour earlier, at 6 p.m. The later starting time had been an accommodation to the work schedule of former Moderator William Davies, who famously insisted on working a full day before wielding the gavel.
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