TEMPLE — Voters elected two Select Board members and approved a 48‑article warrant in a little more than an hour at the annual town meeting Monday evening.
Austin Foss, an incumbent Select Board member, was reelected without opposition to another three‑year term after being nominated from the floor and receiving three ceremonial ballots.
Voters also filled a two‑year term left vacant when Select Board member Dean Collins sold his Temple home and moved to another town.
The town report was dedicated to John Stewart, the Town Office custodian, and to Collins, with special recognition for Collins’ work during the COVID‑19 pandemic and the 2023 storms that damaged town roads.
Two candidates were nominated for the seat: Harry Hagaman and Robert Van Riper. Forty ballots were cast, with Van Riper receiving 22 votes to Hagaman’s 18. Van Riper previously served as Temple’s town clerk for a couple of years.
Moderator Tom Saviello and residents moved quickly through the warrant, taking time to question town officials about topics ranging from property revaluations to animal control to upcoming road projects.
After some debate, residents voted to hold the annual meeting on the last Monday of the month, setting the 2027 meeting for March 30.
An effort to amend the motion and return to Saturday meetings in April — a practice Temple adopted in 2021 in case residents needed to meet outdoors to maintain social distancing — failed for lack of a second.
The town voted last year to return the annual meeting to March in an effort to boost turnout.
Residents also agreed to appropriate $25,000 to maintain town buildings. Foss outlined several projects planned for the coming year at the Town Office, including pouring concrete for a new front entryway, improving the clerk’s office and completing some landscaping.
Road Commissioner Erik Hellgren said the town plans to pave the lower portion of Varnum Pond Road this year, along with patching work elsewhere. Day Mountain Road is slated for 2027.
Residents appropriated $150,000 for the Paving Reserve Account: $80,000 from taxation, $50,000 from excise tax and $20,000 from the Town Road Block Grant.
Most votes were unanimous, but there was some dissent over the Animal Control Account. Several residents objected to increasing the line from $5,000 to $7,500.
Collins noted that the animal control officer does not charge extra for court appearances — something that happened five times last year — and others spoke in support of the work done to curb nuisance dogs in town.
The town’s ambulance service contract also increased from $7,505 to $13,280.
