Accountability posts

SUNAPEE SELECTBOARD — 12/1/25: What happened, and what residents should know.

The most urgent item at Monday's meeting wasn't on the public agenda at all: New London Hospital is cutting ambulance service for Sunapee from 24/7 coverage down to weekdays, 7am–7pm only. That means no dedicated ambulance coverage on nights, weekends, or holidays. The board received this update, asked no probing questions, took no formal action, and made no commitment to notify residents or develop a mitigation plan. If you or a family member needed an ambulance at 10pm on a Saturday, this change directly affects you — and you weren't given advance notice it was even being discussed.

Also off the public agenda: legal problems with subdivision roads at Granite Ridge and Blueberry Ridge. The town may have never properly accepted these roads, creating unresolved maintenance liability and stormwater management issues. One board member stated flatly that the town should not entertain taking over roads with no documentation of how they were built. Residents in those subdivisions — and taxpayers who could inherit the liability — had no notice this was on the table.

On the budget front, resident Chris Whitehouse made a detailed public case that the proposed FY2026 budget represents an $1,865,661 increase — roughly 15% — following a budget that voters already rejected last year. He argued the town has been responsible for 46–96% of annual property tax increases without corresponding service improvements. The board did not acknowledge his comments or respond. Separately, a representative from community group SAGE stated on the record that the board has 'been somewhat resistant to speaking to and listening to residents,' and invited board members to a public forum on December 13th. The board offered no response to that either.

Other decisions made: the board unanimously authorized moving forward with a $1.147 million solar array bond for the wastewater treatment plant (voters will see this as a warrant article), approved a $15,000 mid-year budget transfer to cover welfare overspending — acknowledging the welfare appropriation has been structurally too low for years — and discussed creating a new trust fund to manage heating assistance donations. Sunapee residents, especially those in the affected subdivisions or who rely on overnight emergency services, should be paying close attention to what comes next. https://meetingwatch.org/nh/sunapee/selectboard/2025-12-01/ #MeetingWatch #SunapeeNH