PHILLIPS — Voters authorized the Select Board on Saturday to sell three properties and put the proceeds into an account for improvements to the Public Works Garage/Fire Station.
The properties are the former town office at 15 Russell St., a parcel across the street with a basketball court, and a parcel farther up the street with a parking lot.
The article passed after being amended to “make the buyer of the former town office at 15 Russell St. be in the best interest of the town,” Town Clerk BJ Bangs wrote in an email.
Voters also gave selectmen the authority to put the proceeds into an account to be used for improvements to the Public Works Garage/Fire Station and site at 138 Park St. It also authorized selectmen to spend the money from the account as needed.
The last article also passed with an amendment for the Select Board to move forward with granting an easement, if it’s in the best interest of the town, to David M. Brazil and Tammi Brazil across town property next to Trecartin Park on Park Street. It was amended to read that the Brazils be responsible for all costs incurred by the town in connection with their easement request and any subsequent granting of the easement, regardless of whether the it is ultimately granted.
Town Manager Maureen Haley previously said a bridge that has spanned the overflow from the Sandy River at the Trecartin Park was damaged and moved during the December 2023 flood.
“The abutter to the park purchased the bridge from the ATV club,” she said. “The abutter has requested an easement through the park over the same ground that has been used to cross this bridge. (The) ATV club erected the most recent bridge that was damaged and from many local accounts, there has been a bridge there for over a century prior to that bridge.”
The easement deed is not yet drafted. The warrant allows the board to move forward with one, she said.
Thirty-eight people attended the special town meeting, which lasted 36 minutes, Bangs said.
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