GARLAND – About 50 residents attended the annual town meeting on Saturday, but no one stepped forward to take the position of town clerk.

Dot Robinson, who has served as town clerk for several years, announced earlier in the month that she planned to retire from the position. When no one sought the job on Saturday, selectmen appointed her clerk pro tem in order to complete the town meeting.

It will be up to selectmen to find a replacement for Robinson.

In other business, residents voted down a move to replace the three local assessors with a state-certified professional assessor starting in 2006. Residents said the cost to hire a professional assessor would be prohibitive.

Instead, they agreed to raise $7,000 to pay for the services of three local assessors.

As approved, special town meetings will require the participation of 65 registered voters to make the meetings legal. The original article in the town warrant would have changed the requirement from 15 percent to 25 percent of the town’s registered voters, but voters decided to set the participation level at 65 people. The requirement is to prevent small groups of residents from voting in special interest projects.

Residents also voted to form a committee to investigate the feasibility of building a community center.

Elected to office were: Karen Buzzell, selectman; Maurice Cushman, assessor for a three-year term; Julie Kimball, assessor for a two-year term; and Melvin Johnson, re-elected to the SAD 46 board of directors.