Videotaping, Mass Gathering referenda get the boot

Editor’s note: Stay tuned for updates with state bond results later tonight and tomorrow morning.

LEBANON - Lebanon voters overwhelmingly rejected two Selectmen referenda on Tuesday, voting down the so-called Metrocast option to finance videotaping of government meetings and a revamped Mass Gathering ordinance that would have updated an existing ordinance that dates from 1981.

Question 1, the videotaping referendum, was defeated 595-106; while Question 2, the Mass Gathering referendum was denied, 560-222.

The vote means the 1981 Mass Gathering Ordinance remains in effect. The chief opponent to the ordinance, Kurt Zeller of Just Chevy Trucks and 4X4 Proving Ground, just surfaced last week, but made it known that he believed the passage of a revamped ordinance was aimed at driving his business out of town and threatened to do so if it passed.

Zeller punctuated his campaign with a mass mailing sent out to all town residents on Saturday asking for their support directly with Tuesday’s vote.

The strategy worked.

Zeller was unavailable for comment Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Selectmen Chair Karen Gerrish’s desire to have a top-notch videotaping program funded with a surcharge on residents’ Metrocast bills failed to strike a cord with voters as well.

In all, 799 Lebanon residents made it to the polls.