Dover-Foxcroft to hold hearing on town meeting changes

DOVER-FOXCROFT – Local officials are moving forward to replace the traditional show-of-the-hand vote at town meeting with a secret ballot referendum vote, as directed by residents last week in a referendum question.

More than 200 residents petitioned town officials to place the question on the November ballot, and action on that ballot resulted in a vote of 1,084 to 373.

“I think it was a great show of people who were concerned about a lot of issues,” Tom Sands, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said Monday of the vote. He said he looked forward to working with residents to develop “something workable” for the entire town. He also thanked petition organizers, Selectman Joyce Perry and resident Hilda Mulherin, for their hard work.

Just how to make the changeover and avoid the pitfalls that other communities have encountered is a question that was raised on Monday among selectmen.

Board members agreed to hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 8, tentatively scheduled for Center Theatre, to hammer out the issues and questions on how best to proceed.

Among the questions raised by selectmen Monday were: What occurs if a budget is voted down? What happens if there is a need in the event of an emergency or disaster? When should the secret ballot referendum for the annual town meeting expenditures be held?

Perry offered the board a sample charter amendment for consideration that addressed some of the questions. Her amendment would require all warrant articles of $15,000 or more to be acted upon in a secret ballot referendum question. The amendment also proposed that warrant articles costing less than $15,000 could be approved at a special town meeting. In addition, special town meeting warrant articles would be limited to a combined total of less than $25,000 in any fiscal year. Recurring warrant articles that fail to pass by a referendum vote would be continued at the same funding level as the previous year.

The sample amendment will be reviewed by town officials and will be discussed at the public hearing.

Meanwhile, Town Manager Jack Clukey said the town may want to consider adopting an ordinance while the charter is revised or amended to include the new procedures. For the latter, Clukey said a nine-member charter commission must be formed, six of whom would be elected in June and three of whom would be appointed.