Proposed local ordinance doesn’t ‘hold weight’ at town meeting

WOODLAND, Maine — Woodland residents held their annual town meeting on June 17, in which much of the discussion was focused toward the Woodland Consolidated School’s budget, as proposed by the local school board committee. The proposed 2014-15 budget was discussed, in detail, but was ultimately accepted and passed as is. However, the end of the meeting saw some confusion and in-depth discussion regarding a newly proposed town ordinance that would restrict vehicles over a certain weight from driving on posted ways.
The first article of the night to be voted on was the appointment of a moderator for the town’s meeting. It was moved and seconded that Harold Tardy would moderate the meeting.
The budget voting was broken down into 16 articles, addressing issues such as transportation, special education, maintenance and the school lunch program, just to name a few. Articles 2-16 were all voted on and passed, as the school will enter the upcoming school year with a total budget of $1,896,812, which has been cut a total of $108,759 from last year’s adopted budget of $2,005,571.
There was some discussion about the budget going up in certain areas such as speech therapy costs and special education, where, in the latter, the town saw the largest increase, as special education costs increased from $108,285 in 2013 to $178,558 in the recently proposed budget. This is an increase of $70,273, which some members of the town deemed unruly. It was even asked by some how the town could afford to continue to fund a failing school. This accusation stemmed from the knowledge that the Woodland Consolidated School has recently been given an “F” from the Maine Department of Education.
School board member Wanda Anderson made it clear that, although some costs have gone up, the town’s board members have been doing everything possible to keep costs down, as she reminded the community members in attendance that they too have to pay any of the same tax increase.
“The cost for special education is going way up,” said Anderson. “However, we have made a lot of cuts. The last few years, the state has funded us with less money than they’re supposed to. We’re receiving less money. Every school district in Maine, this year, is making cuts. I encourage every one of you to call your legislators and ask them why they won’t fund our schools at the rate that they should be, because they’re not giving us the same money they once were.”
Superintendent Roland Caron also spoke up and explained that the average budget for schools around the state to fund a student is $10,200, and the state’s elementary school average is $7,536.
“We’re funding our school at an average cost of $5,611 per student,” said Caron.
Anderson reiterated Caron’s comments by explaining to the community that by sending their children to a different school, or closing the school down altogether will not save them money.
“I know it’s tough. I know a lot of you are on a fixed income, but we try very hard every year to keep this budget as low as we can, while still being able to educate the children,” said Anderson. “We’re not asking for unreasonable amounts.”
By the end of the meeting, the entire room was tired from discussing and crunching so many numbers, however, there was still one last gleaming article that needed to be discussed and decided upon. The Woodland Board of Selectmen put forth an ordinance that would restrict trucks over a designated weight (54,000 lbs.) on posted ways.
The purpose of the ordinance, according to the board is to “prevent damage to town ways and bridges … which may be caused by vehicles of excessive weight, to lessen safety hazards and the risk of injury to the traveling public, to extend the life expectancy of town ways and bridges, and to reduce the public expense of their maintenance and repair.”
When asked how such an ordinance could ever be enforced, with the town lacking a formal police department or constable, the response from the selectpeople was that the ordinance would have to be enforced by State Police officers. It was emphatically pointed out that no town official could enforce the ordinance without committing a felony, as it would be considered “impersonating a police officer.”
There were a number of vehicles that would have been exempt from the ordinance, however, many members of the town were concerned with the ordinance affecting either local business owners, who may need to use trucks over the designated weight, along with the fact that the ordinance could simply not be enforceable. There was also a great deal of worry regarding whether or not the enacting of such an law could spread to other surrounding areas like Perham or New Sweden, which was a result much of the town was against.
After all the discussion was completed and there were no more questions for the board, the ordinance was voted on and did not pass.