CORNISH — Plans to convert the former Cornish General Store into a new library remains contentious two years after residents narrowly approved a Town Meeting petitioned article to accept the store’s donation.

A petitioned article to rescind the 2023 vote will be on this year’s Town Meeting warrant after resident Brian Meyette collected 47 signatures from residents.

About 50 people crowded into the second floor of town hall for Monday’s Selectboard meeting to review the town warrant.

Several people spoke in opposition to the article and questioned its legality and why it would be allowed on the warrant.

Resident Kate Freeland said she wished Meyette had come to the meeting to explain his reasoning. Meyette did attend, but did not speak publicly.

“Why is this petition is coming forward now,” Freeland asked. “I was hoping for a little more information on that.”

A message left for Meyette this week was not returned.

The petitioned article marks the latest development in an ongoing dispute about the fate of library services in town.

The 1909 George H. Stowell Free Library, which is on School Street not far from the general store on Route 120, was a gift to the town. The building lacks indoor plumbing and is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is why there was a push to support a new location.

Meyette had a disagreement with the library trustees last fall over his late mother’s 2020 donation of $30,000 in support of the library, before the store proposal was presented. He asserted that his mother’s intentions were clear that the money was to go to the Stowell.

The trustees disagreed, believing the donation was in general support of a town library. When the store option came into the picture, the trustees used a portion of the donation to pay for architectural plans.

The Charitable Trusts Unit of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office sided with the trustees in a two-page letter in September.

The Trusts Unit “does not believe the documentation clearly supports that Margaret Meyette’s donation in 2020 was restricted to making repairs and upgrades only to the existing library where it is presently located,” Mary Ann Dempsey, director of Charitable Trusts, wrote in her letter.

She noted that the town “determined that renovations to the present library were not feasible.”

Meyette took no further action against the trustees, who noted if the money were returned it would go back to the library’s building fund, not Meyette.

During Monday’s meeting, resident Michael Fuerst, an attorney, said the 2023 vote gave the nonprofit Cornish Community Initiative until 2028 to raise enough money to complete the renovations of the store, which was donated by its owner, Colleen O’Neill.

Fuerst said he believes that until the 2028 deadline has passed and CCI has either completed the requirements of the article or hasn’t, there is a “binding enforceable agreement between the town and CCI.”

Should Meyette’s article pass next month at Town Meeting, Fuerst said, it should not alter the agreement that came with the 2023 vote.

Selectboard member Jason Bourne said the article was approved by town counsel, who advised the board to contact the Charitable Trusts Unit for guidance.

He said the board has not spoken to the CTU yet but promised to keep residents apprised of its position.

Several other residents at Monday’s meeting wondered if allowing the vote sets up a recurring pattern, where if one side loses they come back the next year with a petition hoping to overturn the vote.

Town Moderator Gwyn Gallagher said prior to the 2023 vote, the Selectboard was working on language to prevent any future reconsideration of the vote but before that was completed, Cornish Community Initiative filed a petitioned article, which does not include language barring reconsideration.

CCI has raised $2 million in cash and pledges toward its goal of $3 million, Merilynn Bourne, a member of the CCI fundraising committee, told the board. The group recently received a $700,000 Northern Borders Regional Commission Grant.

“We are moving forward,” Bourne said.

Library trustee Kathryn Patterson also told the audience that the trustees, CCI and Banwell Architects are meeting soon to decide if they have enough money to begin construction.

Resident Alicia Simino, one of the staunchest opponents of moving the library, is challenging Patterson at Town Meeting for a library trustee seat.

She predicted that annual operating costs will increase significantly.

Since the 2023 vote, the town has learned that the elementary school will need major repairs, Simino said at Monday’s meeting.

“If you want to know why someone would come forward with a petition, it is because people can’t afford taxes plus the school has needs,” Simino said.

Bourne said the community center will have an entrance separate from the library and will not require anything more than volunteers to unlock the door for organization that want to meet there.

“There is no cost to the town for the community center,” Bourne said.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.

CORRECTION: Brian Meyette, a Cornish resident who submitted a petition article   to overturn a 2023 Town Meeting vote on a new town library, was in attendance at Monday's Selectboard meeting to discuss the petition. A previous version of this story was incorrect about Meyette's attendance at the meeting.