Derry residents will go to the polls Tuesday, Oct. 13, to make their wishes known on eight controversial budget cuts. For a full story, see the Oct. 1 edition of the Nutfield News.
The special election was mandated by Judge David Anderson of Rockingham Superior Court in a decision handed down Sept. 14, and the date was unanimously approved by Councilors in a Sept. 23 special meeting.
At issue are eight “referendum petitions” sponsored by a group of residents asking a majority of the Council to reverse its vote on cuts to police personnel, police overtime, fire personnel, fire overtime, public works personnel, public works overtime, elimination of the Human Resources Director position and closing of a fire station.
A loose coalition of residents created the referendum petitions after the May 19 budget vote in which Chairman Thomas Cardon, Mark Osborne, Albert Dimmock and David Fischer voted in the majority for the cuts. A referendum petition, according to town charter, requires the Council to reverse its votes on issues spelled out in the petition or to hold a special election. A referendum petition must be signed by 20 percent of the amount of residents who voted in the last election.
The election is contingent on the Town’s not prevailing in its Supreme Court appeal of the Anderson decision.
