NEWS
(from the July 2008 Maine Townsman)

Addison: Special town meeting voters in early July approved an amendment to the town’s building ordinance to allow more height for small residential  windmills. The vote was 49-17. Presently, homeowners can build structures up to 50 feet tall. The amendment creates a Special Use category to allow windmills to reach as high as 115 feet.

Bangor: The city expects to save about $100,000 a year by using natural gas at city hall and four other municipal facilities.

Dayton: Town officials are asking for volunteers to help build a new town hall. The groundbreaking is expected in August and the building should be done by winter. The town hopes to save as much as $200,000 in labor by having volunteers help construct the single-level 4,600-square-foot building. The cost of the new building is estimated at between $450,000 and $500,000.

Dresden: Town leaders were authorized at town meeting in June to borrow up to $1 million to build a new public safety building to replace what some local officials call “prehistoric.” The new building will measure 8,000 square feet.

Eliot: This town has become one of a growing number of Maine municipalities to pass ordinances to regulate wind and solar power structures and facilities. The new ordinances affect projects of 100 kilowatts.

Georgetown: Voters authorized the town to get a $1.5 million line of credit to pay for repairs and rehabilitation of town roads over the next two years. Supporters of the proposal said the town will save money, even while paying interest, because of the cost of fuel and asphalt is expected to continue climbing in the near future. Opponents argued the money should come from surplus.  Voters also tabled a proposed ordinance to regulate small wind-energy systems.

Hanover: Residents were invited to a free cookout on July 16 by the town’s Comprehensive Plan Committee in an effort to boost interest and attendance at their meetings. Both year-round and seasonal residents of the town of 250 got a chance to exchange a hotdog for their views on where the town should be headed in the future. The cookout was held at the town hall.

Lewiston: Looking for new ways to help residents afford the rising cost of fuel and gas, councilors in both Lewiston and Auburn have agreed to offer free bus rides on Fridays from through August 29. Officials hope to get people used to riding public transportation and use it beyond the free period.

Lisbon: Voters said “no” on June 10 to spending $325,000 for a town-wide property revaluation, although officials had stressed how badly the revaluation was needed.

Manchester: Town meetingvoters agreed to borrow $1.6 million to build a new fire station to replace the existing cramped 62-year-old building. The vote culminates a three-year effort by a study committee.

New Portland: The 1866 wire bridge that crosses the Carrabassett River will get a $600,000 rehabilitation this summer, with the federal and state governments paying for nearly the entire project. State transportation officials had promised the work would be done in time for the town’s 200th anniversary celebration in late June.

Paris: An effort to add $60,000 to the fire department budget to hire a full-time fire chief was squashed at town meeting on June 14.

Pleasant Point: The Passamaquoddy Tribe has been awarded a $120,000 federal grant to study the feasibility of producing electricity from ocean and tidal currents.

Richmond: The town was recently awarded a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant  to invest in the town’s historic downtown district, the only project of its kind funded by the state/federal grant program this year in Maine. The town will borrow $210,000 to build a new sidewalk in the district, which helped strengthen its application, according to town officials.

South Berwick: Voters easily defeated a charter amendment on June 10 that would have allowed elected municipal officials to be recalled. Opponents were worried the charter change would make it even harder to get people to run for public office.

Stockton Springs: The highway department’s capital budget was cut by two-thirds at town meeting in June so the municipal budget would meet the budget limits of LD 1.

Van Buren: Voters have committed $3,200 toward the cost of bus service from the St. John Valley in far northern Maine to Caribou. Other Valley towns also intend to contribute, including Madawaska and Fort Kent. Van Buren residents were first to vote on the matter.

Waterboro: Town meeting voters in June rejected the creation of a charter commission by a vote of 235-214. They also voted against the recommendation of selectmen not to override LD 1. Residents supported exceeding the property tax increase limit in order to keep a deputy sheriff assigned to the town, at a cost of about $77,600, as well as to donate $7,000 to a local conservation group.