Recap Town Council Meeting - July 17th‏

The meeting started out as usual, the pre-meeting where the puppets are provided guidance on what to say and do during the meeting was held in Eldridge’s office.  The meeting went very smoothly and all puppets did as they were told.

One of the major issues discovered was that the town was below the recommended Charter’s Undesignated Fund of 12.5%.   This question had to be asked three times before the public could get an answer.  The impact of this is that the town must maintain 12.5% of the General Funds in order to protect the town.  Falling below this 12.5% put the town in a vulnerable situation.  Thankfully, nothing happened but the 12.5% was put into the Charter for an important reason and the town council certainly should remain within the parameters of the Charter at all times.

The town council moved and approved the following items:

Dump Body Replacement Bid for $29,500.00
Road Striping Bid for $15,554.99
Town Planner for $20,000.00
Health Officer for $10,000.00
Ballot for MMA’s Legislative Policy Committee
Amendments to the General Assistance Temporary Housing and Overall Maximums

There was a discussion about a well at 24 Davis Street which appears to be polluted by the town.  The council decided there was not sufficient information to render a decision so they rescheduled this item for a workshop.  The town engineer was tasked to gather additional information.

The same applied to the Upper Dam situation.  Additional information was needed before the council could make a decision so they rescheduled it for a workshop.

There was a laundry list of appointments and resignations which they went through and approved.

Then they moved to Executive Session.  This lasted approximately 40 minutes and when they came back they provide no information on what was discussed.  The topics were Labor negotiations; Consultations with legal counsel; Consultation with code enforcement officer and town attorney on pending enforcement matters and finally Economic Development.  This most significant issue here is the town never reveals what the Economic Development actually is which is not according to the statute.  There are certain items which need to be discussed in private but the subject matter should never be kept from the citizens.  People need to know what is going on in their town.  All topics had a clear indication of what was being discussed with the exception of Economic Development.  What is the big secret?  What are they hiding from the people?

 

After the meeting the council moved to a lengthy discussion on a Fireworks Ordinance.  I will cover this separately because it is very involved and is divided.

Larry Fillmore
Concerned Citizen