Last week Roger Riccio beat former Village President Cathy Bergmann by an almost 3-to-1 margin, and newcomers to the board, Lance Allen and Les White were elected.
On Tuesday the new board voted to hire new employees for the wastewater and fire departments after the previous board had rejected both requests.
The new board also approved Bellows Falls Police Chief Ron Lake's request to promote another sergeant to the force.
The board also voted to give up on an experiment to save money on the trash disposal arrangement at the fire and police stations after Fire Chief Bill Weston said it was actually costing more to truck the refuse themselves to the disposal station.
The previous board had instituted a hiring freeze and ordered the fire and police chiefs to try the new disposal system.
Scott Falzo and Stefan Golec are the only trustees holding the same position after the election, and Falzo voted against every one of the proposals.
Golec voted with the majority and each of the proposals passed. Waste water plant chief operator Rob Wheeler had come before the board at least two other times to talk about the staffing issues at the plant.
The former board refused each appeal, citing the high tax rate in the village and the slumping economy.
But the new board focused more on Wheeler's workload and need to adequately staff the facility.
They authorized Wheeler to advertise for a fourth employee.
Weston also spent his share of time in front of the former board, but Tuesday night the new board was much more receptive to his request. Weston explained that when former Deputy Chief Steve Yannuzzi left, and Steve Cenate was promoted, a firefighter's position opened.
The former board had worked most of the year to cut the fire department budget.
On Tuesday, the board voted 3-1, with Falzo voting "no," in favor of the new hiring at the fire department.
And when Lake asked the board to authorize the hiring of a new sergeant, the board also quickly approved the request with little discussion.
Lake said the new hiring would not add to his budget.
At the annual village meeting last Monday, residents unanimously approved an article to encourage the board to consider merging with the town of Rockingham.
The trustees on Tuesday began that discussion and made preparations for an upcoming joint meeting with the Rockingham Selectboard.
Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at hwtisman@reform-er.com or 802-254-2311 ext. 279.
