Rockingham voters will be able to weigh in on a controversial criminal justice center that Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark wants to build in Bellows Falls.
The Rockingham Selectboard Tuesday finalized the 2016 town meeting warning and agreed to include a ballot question on the project.
A petition was handed in with enough signatures to get the question on the warning, but Rockingham Town Manager Chip Stearns said the project could move forward regardless of the outcome.
"The petition is a non-binding question," Stearns told the board. " It does not afford the voters, by statute, to have any say, if you will, in this project as it occurs."
Clark was at the Statehouse Thursday, giving lawmakers details on The Liberty Mill Justice Center, a $23 million facility that would house federal and state detainees.
Pat Fowler owns a book store in Bellows Falls and she says it still makes sense to give people a say, even though a vote can't stop the project.
"The community should be able to weigh in on something that's going to have such a major impact on us," Fowler said. "It will have an impact on our schools, have an impact on our business community and our social service agencies that we have existing in our community."
Rockingham voters will vote on the detention center by Australian Ballot on Town Meeting Day.
