Staff Writer
A score of town meetings have wrapped up for another year with a new slate of elected officers installed and municipal budgets set for the coming months.
In Merrill, Mark Lawlor captured all 19 of the votes cast to earn a 3-year term on the Board of Selectmen.
All items on the warrant were approved, setting the municipal budget at just over $160,000. This total is up roughly $7,000 from last year due to increases in the town’s fire contract and winter road expenses. The total budget includes $36,000 for administration, $12,500 for fire protection, $45,000 for winter roads, $14,000 for summer roads and other expenses.
Items on the warrant were passed as presented, including one to set the rate of compensation for each selectmen. Previously, the officials had each received $800 annually; voters unanimously chose to raise that to $1,000.
Candy Nevers, town manager for both Merrill and Smyrna, said voters in both towns OK’d $500 to be put toward buying flags to be placed through the towns. Flag, with purchases matched by the Cole Family Foundation, are expected to extend from the cemetery in Smyrna, through town and up the hill toward Dyer Brook; flags will also start at the Oakfield-Smyrna line and extend up Route 212 into Merrill. Nevers said their goal is to do some spring clean up and have the flags in place by Memorial Day.
In Smyrna, a $194,000 municipal budget was OK’d by voters. This total is up roughly $10,000 from last year; the increase is due mostly to a rise in the town’s fire contract and added expenses for winter roads. The total budget includes: $50,000 for administration expenses, $55,000 for winter roads, $12,000 for summer roads and $12,500 for fire protection. Voters also approved a pay raise for selectmen. Previously, the officials had been paid $750 per year; now, they’ll be paid $1,000 a year.
At the ballot box, 14 votes were cast for a Clifford Folsom who was elected to a 3-year term on the Board of Selectmen. Arden Williams was chosen to fill a vacancy on the CSD 9 school board; with 13 votes in his favor, Williams will fill a 3-year term on the board.
Patten voters gathered for their town meeting March 11, passing the bulk of the proposed budget as presented and setting the total just under $650,000. Part of that budget includes a $12,000 supplemental law enforcement contract for expanded patrol hours via deputies with the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department.
Two candidates — Bruce Campbell and Raymond Thomas — were on the ballot for a 3-year term on the Board of Selectmen, but the majority of voters chose write-in candidate Randy Bossie. As of last Thursday afternoon, Bossie had not accepted the post yet. Leslie Gardner and Colleen Schmidt were re-elected to 3-year terms on the SAD 25 Board of Directors.
Roughly 40 citizens attended the town meeting.
Island Falls held its annual meeting March 10 where voter approval set a $525,924 municipal budget for the coming year.
This figure is down slightly from what was originally proposed. Town Clerk Cheryl McNally said voters turned down a proposed $3,500 expense for a boat launch and fencing project on the Mattawamkeag River. Earlier in the day, during polling hours, voters also turned down a $100,000 expenditure that would have gone toward the town’s fire station project. (See that story in this week’s issue.) That was a reduction of just over $11,000.
Those elected to office for the coming year included incumbents Don Hallett and Wallace Townsend, who were re-elected to the Board of Selectmen; Hallett was chosen to serve a 3-year term and Townsend a 1-year term on the board.
Scot Walker, running as a write-in candidate, was chosen to fill a seat on the CSD 9 board.
