Winterport election, town meeting this week

WINTERPORT – Tuesday’s municipal election and Saturday’s annual town meeting will be the first conducted under the new town charter approved by voters last November.

It replaces the town’s original charter, from 1860 and an amendment approved 100 years later that established a town manager-board of selectmen form of government.

Under the new charter, the board was replaced with a five-member town council. The charter retained the annual town meeting.

“It’s pretty much the same as we had, other than calling it the town council,” board Chairman Samuel Butler said Friday of the charter. “It didn’t really change that much.”

In the municipal election, incumbent Selectmen Stephen Cooper and James A.B. Patterson are being challenged by Bernard Ginn Jr. and Susan Rioux for the two open three-year terms on the new Town Council. Roger Newey is unopposed for a three-year term as assessor, and Louis Aurileo is unopposed for a three-year term on the SAD 22 board of directors.

Voters also will decide whether to schedule future annual town meetings for midweek evenings instead of the traditional Saturday session.

In his annual report to residents, Butler said the town’s share of the SAD 22 budget likely would eliminate any municipal savings and lead to an overall tax increase.

Butler reported that harvesting the town forest at Fernald Field produced $78,928 in revenue, and harvesting the Stream Road parcel produced $40,176. Butler recommended that the Stream Road revenues be used to reduce the budget. He suggested that the Fernald Field revenues be set aside for long-term studies for future use of Fernald Field and as a reserve for construction of a new town office or public works building.

Butler noted that improvements, a new roof, furnace and exterior paint at the Victoria Grant Civic Center were completed over the past year. The Winterport Woman’s Club repainted and decorated the upper and lower levels of the center, including wall decorations and curtains. Materials for the project were provided by Cove Brook Watershed Council.

“The increasing cost of oil is likely to cause higher bids [for] road reconstruction projects,” Butler said. “Some projects will not be done. Others may be delayed or more emphasis may be given to reconstructing the sub-base of earth roads for later paving.”

In their budget proposal, selectmen recommend spending $163,663 for administration, $89,068 for benefits and insurance, $38,675 for the Fire Department, $269,910 for plowing and sanding, $101,499 for road maintenance, $62,500 for paving, $187,505 for road construction, $180,895 for solid waste, $27,880 for recreation, $16,012 for cemeteries, $72,303 for streetlights and hydrants and $80,000 for reserve accounts. The selectmen also recommend taking $145,100 from surplus to reduce the amount needed from taxation to fund municipal spending.

Residents also will be asked to consider amendments to the town’s shoreland zoning regulations and whether to authorize representatives of John Jones, owner of the West Winterport Dam on Marsh Stream, to give a presentation on their plans to build a rock-ramp fish passage structure at the dam.

Voting in Winterport’s annual municipal election will take place 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, at the town office. The annual town meeting will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 18, at Samuel L. Wagner Middle School.