Gravel Driveway Repair in Francestown, NH

The 2025 Francestown Town Meeting was as much a celebration of the town’s volunteer officials and employees as it was a time for approving budgets and expenditures. The day began with the presentation of an engraved gavel to Town Moderator Paul Lawrence, who is retiring after 29 years in the job.

Town Administrator Jamie Pike recognized volunteers retiring from town boards and committees, including Cemetery Trustee Ethel MacStubbs, who has served in that position for 25 years.

During the meeting, a proclamation proposed by Gary Schnakenberg to thank the Francestown School Committee for “months and months of daunting work completed diligently, meticulously, and with the utmost professionalism and transparency” was adopted and enthusiastically applauded.

The proposed $2.3 million town operating budget, which included significant pay and benefits increases for full-time town employees, passed nearly unanimously after Budget Committee Chair Stewart Brock outlined the results of a comparative wage study the committee had completed. Brock explained that the new pay and benefits levels are in line with market rates and extolled the expertise and dedication of the town’s employees.

An article authorizing $20,000 for expenses related to the withdrawal from ConVal passed unanimously and sparked discussion about where Francestown goes from here. Francestown School Committee Chair Laura Mafera explained that while Francestown voted strongly in favor of withdrawal with 80% of the vote, the measure failed to pass the 40% district-wide threshold, missing by only about 79 to 85 votes. She recognized that there is still strong support for withdrawal in the community.

After questions from residents about future options, committee member Kevin Pobst said that the committee will be meeting next week, consulting with its attorney, and will have recommendations and discussions with the community in the coming weeks and months.

With little or no discussion, Francestown voters unanimously approved all the remaining warrant articles, including $875,000 for a new fire truck, $305,000 for road improvements, $70,000 for HVAC repairs at the library, $45,000 for improvements at the transfer station and $435,000 to fund capital reserves.

Moderator Paul Lawrence adjourned the meeting at 12:10 p.m. As she exited the Town Hall, Select Board member Karen Fitgerald reflected on the meeting.

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“You really have to appreciate that Town Meeting is true democracy. It’s a beautiful thing,” she said.

Dublin’s and Francestown’s efforts to withdraw from the ConVal School District failed Tuesday.

For approval, either a majority of voters across the district would have needed to approve, or 60% in the town and 40% overall. Francestown’s 81% approval vote, 416-95, would have been enough, but only 38% of district voters overall approved. Dublin hit neither threshold, as only 51% of voters in town, 242-229, and 37% overall approved.

Peterborough, in particular, expressed strong disapproval, voting 1,081-274 against Dublin and 1,066-289 against Francestown.

On Wednesday morning, Francestown School Committee member Laura Mafera stated, “We are of course disappointed in the final results, but are proud of the work our committee has done. We received 81% of the votes in Francestown and district-wide only failed by about 80 votes. We are committed to this process and will be working on next steps in the coming days.”

Blake Anderson, who was a member of the former Dublin Education Advisory Committee, stated, "Democracy has spoken. The goal was to get the data and the question before the voters. We appreciate the support of Dublin residents for the effort.”

ConVal School Board member Mike Hoyt said the board is looking forward to moving ahead.

“Our next step is to reach out to these communities which wanted to withdraw and to bring them back into the fold. We’ve had two really difficult years. We really need to get people back together again; that will be a big emphasis for us – let’s all get back together and engage with these communities and figure out how do our best for everyone,” Hoyt said Wednesday morning. “We all need to work together.”

Hoyt said a lack of funding support from the state is at the root of the heavy tax burden on New Hampshire property owners.

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“The state will not accept the fact that they need to fund education adequately to relieve the burden of property taxes,” Hoyt said. “They need to help people out with their taxes; it can’t keep coming from the towns.”

Among the issues prompting the withdrawal efforts were the costs to those towns toward the overall running of the district relative to other towns and student performance on state proficiency testing. Dublin and Francestown were also two of the towns – along with Bennington and Temple – that could have lost their elementary schools if a reconfiguration plan had passed last year.

Just after 9 a.m. at a check-in table at the Peterborough Community Center, Stephen Nichols said that the stream of voters was light, but that lunch time would see a bump in numbers. Owen Mueller of Peterborough called the withdrawal initiative “ridiculous.”

“They’ll be doubling up on costs, such as school nurses. They should close (Dublin Consolidated School) and have the students take buses (elsewhere),” he said.

After voting, Cindy Lynch of Peterborough said that Dublin and Francestown withdrawing from the district would have “a negative impact not only on the towns remain in the district, but on those that leave. Those students benefit from interaction with more peers and more extracurricular activities as part of a larger district.”

Upstairs in Dublin’s Town Hall mid-morning, Celeste Snitko said that the stream of votes was fairly steady. Behind Town Hall, Fred Giaimo explained his support for his town withdrawing from the district.

“I wouldn’t mind staying in the district if the standardized test schools were at least over the 55% level. I get upset at paying $38,000 for reading scores that suggest 38% proficiency,” he said.

Jonathan Sistare said that his support for Dublin withdrawing was based on the terms of the Articles of Agreement, which dictate how much towns pay toward the running of the district.

“The current articles are outdated. Dublin is paying too much,” he said.

Checking in voters in Sharon, Susan Bowles said that the flow had been pretty constant. Outside the polls, Bill Joyner explained his vote against allowing Dublin and Francestown to withdraw.

“It’s a difficult call. It would have a big impact on a small town like us. I understand the desire to have your own school, but it’s not practical,” he said.

Dianne Callahan echoed Joyner in terms of the financial impact on Sharon.

“To take money out of the district (which Dublin’s and Francestown’s departures would do) while the state is also cutting funding for education at the same time is not good.”

Helen Croteau of Temple expressed a different perspective.

“If they want to leave, that’s their right,” she said outside Temple Town Hall.

Peter von Snyder of Temple had a different view.

“They made a deal to be part of the district, they’re in it,” he said.

Pierce Rigrod of Hancock said that it was “unfortunate that we’re at this point,” in the district, but that “Rather than withdrawal, Dublin and Francestown should negotiate a solution.”

Linda Mason, also of Hancock, objected to the withdrawal initiative.

“It would harm Dublin and Francestown and harm ConVal. It’s selfish,” she said

Scott Carbee of Francestown, who grew up in Greenfield, supported Francesotown’s withdrawal.

“Consolidation is no longer working,” he said Tuesday.

Carbee said he remembers when the ConVal district was created .

“All the towns had their own school boards before ConVal was created. Back then, we were tuitioning our Greenfield kids over to Peterborough for grades seven to 12. Because of the varied wealth of each town, it was very different how the kids in each town were being educated by the time they got to seventh grade. There were high and lows, and kids were not coming into high school with the same preparation, and they said, we need to straighten this out, so they started looking into consolidating; it was Peterborough Consolidated High School,” he said. “The whole point of consolidating was try to get more teachers and to raise the scores and boost the education. Back then, Peterborough was the hub for the whole region; everyone worked at Guernsey and Ball Bearings and the mills, but today, the demographics have changed and Peterborough is no longer the hub for employment for the region. They don’t really want us anymore.”

Jesseca Timmons contributed to this article.