Voters OK board's discretion on snow plowing

HANOVER – Residents overwhelmingly authorized selectmen to decide which town roads will be closed to winter maintenance at a special town meeting Tuesday night.

Voters also adopted a school budget and the town became the final member of the Region 9 School of Applied Technology to approve the vocational school’s 2003-04 operating budget.

At a public meeting last week to discuss the South Shore Road, several residents appeared to ask that the town begin plowing snow from the road during the winter. About seven families live on the road year-round.

Town officials have said that the cost to bring the road up to standard would be prohibitive. And the road must be brought up to standard before the town would plow it.

Right now, year-round residents subcontract for private snow removal. The road accesses Howard Pond.

At Tuesday’s special town meeting, residents voted 26-5 to authorize selectmen to decide which roads would be closed to winter maintenance. The authority was granted for a period of up to 10 years.

In just over 10 minutes, residents also approved an educational budget for Hanover’s 40-plus students of nearly $403,000. Of that amount, $130,000 will come from state aid and about $172,000 will be raised by taxation.

The remainder comes from unexpended balances, tuition receipts and a variety of other sources. Hanover is not a member of a school administrative district.

Townspeople joined three SADs, and several other unaffiliated towns in passing the $1 million Region 9 budget. Of that total, Hanover will pay $12,461.

Residents also passed a nearly $203,000 Region 9 adult and community education budget for 2003-04. Of that amount, Hanover will pay $603.

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