Town meetings

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Guilford

Residents decided Monday at the annual town meeting to bring the Guilford Memorial Library into the fold of municipal government.

All assets owned by the trustees of the library now will be considered town property and selectmen will be responsible for hiring new employees.

The library will operate as a town department but trustees still will oversee the day-to-day operations of the facility. The trustees, who embraced the move, also will make recommendations when new employees are needed.

Residents were told that the town would be debt-free after this year. The debt on the medical building was paid off last year and the final payments will be made this year on the fire station addition and town garage.

About 80 people attended the meeting during which H. Kent Burdin and Rick Lander were re-elected to the Board of Selectmen. Brad Deane was brought back as a trustee of the Guilford-Sangerville Sanitary District, and Pat Littlefield, Dodie Curtis and Barbara Reardon were re-elected as library trustees. David Bridges was elected to the SAD 4 board of directors. (Diana Bowley, BDN)

Abbot

Money for part-time office help was approved Monday at the annual town meeting.

Town officials had asked for $3,500 for part-time office help to fill in where needed and residents supported that appropriation.

Approval also was given to spend $7,000 for software to assess replacing an outdated program.

Residents did increase funding for town road improvements, from $30,000 to $50,000, and voted to give Pine Tree Hospice and Womancare each a $200 donation. Funding requests from other social service agencies were defeated, according to Selectman Jan Ronco.

In the past, residents had divided up the state refund on snowmobile registrations between the Four Winds Snowmobile Club and the Big Pine Riders. This year, voters elected to give 100 percent of the refund to the latter organization. Ronco said it was noted at the meeting that the Four Winds Snowmobile Club gets money from Guilford.

Re-elected to office were Chuck Woodmancy and Heather Weymouth to the SAD 4 board of directors; Alice Weymouth as treasurer; and Lorraine Leeman, town clerk and tax collector. (Diana Bowley, BDN)

Atkinson

Local students will receive the traditional support the town has given over the year.

Residents agreed Monday at the annual town meeting to award a $400 scholarship to each graduating senior from Atkinson who is continuing his or her education; to give a $200 donation to each junior from Atkinson traveling to Washington for the Close-Up Program; and to give $200 to each full-time college student from Atkinson who is in his or her second year of college and up. The money is taken from the Atkinson School Trust Fund, which includes proceeds from the sale of the former Atkinson Elementary School years ago.

About 30 people attended the meeting. Peter Patten was elected as a selectman for a three-year term, and George Johnson was re-elected to the SAD 41 board. (Diana Bowley, BDN)

Brownville

A proposed mass gathering ordinance was soundly defeated Monday at the annual town meeting.

The ordinance would have stipulated the permit procedures and guidelines for a gathering attended by 500 or more people.

The approximately 60 residents who attended the meeting approved the transfer of $100,000 from surplus into a so-called Norton Pond working capital reserve account.

The reserve account funds would be available if the town needed them in anticipation of taxes and would help the town through the expected increase in valuation anticipated by the development of a resort at Norton Pond.

The development will bring in tax dollars when construction is completed. Until then, the bills paid to the county and schools are based on the town’s valuation, and as the valuation increases, so will the amount of the bills. The account would serve as a cushion if and when funds are needed, Town Manager Sophia Wilson said.

The repair of the town garage had been lumped into a warrant article with other special projects for funding, but residents decided to address it on its own. Rather than give approval for the project Monday, residents asked selectmen to work with an engineer and bring recommendations for the garage back to a special town meeting. The garage, which was constructed in 1983, has some interior damage from water.

Paula Copeland was elected to a three-year term, and John Belvin was elected to a one-year term on the Board of Selectmen. Marie McSwine was elected to a three-year term on the SAD 41 board, and Vaughn Clapp was elected to a one-year term. (Diana Bowley, BDN)

Eddington

After a few quick questions, residents at Tuesday’s annual town meeting easily passed all of the town’s warrant articles.

Forty-four residents attended.

“Everything went pretty smoothly,” Town Manager Russell Smith said Wednesday. “It only lasted 40 minutes.”

Residents endorsed an $867,363 municipal budget for fiscal year 2007-08.

The budget includes $20,570 for general government; $260,973 for administrative salaries and expenses; $175,300 for highways; $221,721 for protection; $135,509 for human services; $5,000 for the unanticipated emergency expenses account; and $47,310 for the town hall renovation payment.

The preliminary budget does not include the Penobscot County tax or the SAD 63 budget amount, which will be established later this year and will be part of the final overall budget determined in June.

Residents increased the town’s property tax levy limit above and beyond the $44,189 amount set by the state. The town will not know the amount until the tax commitment is set, but currently it’s just below the state amount at $43,328, Smith has stated. (Nok-Noi Hauger, BDN)