Hubbardston: No And no

Hubbardston: No And no
Senior center, police and fire complex both rejected

Rebecca Leonard
News Correspondent

HUBBARDSTON  The voters of Hubbardston voted no to all three Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion tax override ballot questions yet again Wednesday night.

This is the second time both the senior center and the public safety complex have been on the ballot for an election. This time around the senior center and public safety complex were separate questions on the ballot, with hopes that residents wanted one project and not the other.

The question with the most votes no was the new $5.6 million public safety complex with a margin of 123 votes, losing 410-533.

Following behind was the new $2.3 million senior center, losing 450-501.

“We were able to cut the number of against votes in half from last time,” said John Nason, former Council on Aging member.

One of the consequences of the senior center being defeated is what will happen to the $500,000 grant from the state that they were able to acquire with the help of state Sen. Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, and former state Sen. Stephen Brewer.

The grant is meant only to fund the senior center and must be used before the end of July 2016. If it’s not used by that date, the money goes back to the state and officials have said it’s unlikely that the town would be awarded the funds again.

“We’re just going to take a deep breath and talk strategy. We’ll keep doing what we’re doing and just do it better,” expressed Mr. Nason.

The town is also in the process of a land swap deal with the Department of Conservation and Recreation that should be finalized in the beginning of October. Although both projects failed at the ballots, the land will still belong to the town for future use.

A debt exclusion to purchase a new ambulance for the Fire Department was also narrowly defeated, with a margin of 2 votes – 470-472.

The special election followed a special town meeting where the three ballot questions were passed.

At the election in June, only 626 voters came out to vote. Wednesday’s election totaled 952 out of over 3,000 registered voters.

“I think there was definitely more publicity this time around. People were more informed,” stated Town Clerk Joyce Green, “We’ll see what happens now.”