By Lori Duff
The turning point, many residents believe, in the Town of Franconia's water system improvement project happened during the 2009 Town Meeting.
In its 247-year history, the town had never approved a bonded project, not even a couple hundred dollars for a fire truck, and now the water committee was asking for $3.85 million.
"This is the North Country," said Selectman Rich McLeod. "There is an innate resistance to debt or taxes or bonding. It takes a hard sell in order to have a project like this accepted by the community."