OLD TOWN – The council voted Monday night to move ahead with plans to decrease the white-tailed deer population on Marsh Island, but decisions regarding the process still have to be made.

The motion to ask the commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to begin the process of restoring deer hunting on Marsh Island passed 5-1, with Councilor Linda McLeod opposed.

“I’m not completely sure that everyone has a problem with the deer,” she said, adding that she didn’t have an answer to the situation, but didn’t want to say a hunt was the solution.

The overpopulation of deer on the island has been a hot topic recently in both Orono and Old Town. At a joint public hearing of the two towns in August, residents voiced concerns about health and safety, but their primary issue is the damage deer are doing to property.

“We’re not looking to eliminate the deer in Old Town,” council Chairman Gary Sirois said. “We’re looking at trying to manage them a little better.”

The DIF&W classifies the island as a wildlife management area where hunting is prohibited, but the department’s commissioner has the authority to change that rule.

If Orono and the University of Maine, which owns the largest area on Marsh Island, decide not to regulate the deer population, Old Town has the right to rescind its request. But councilors also are interested in pursuing a regulation change on their own if Orono and UMaine decline to participate. It’s not clear whether DIF&W officials would support that move.

“It’s probably a big question mark whether we would move forward or not,” Mark Caron, DIF&W regional wildlife biologist, told councilors Monday.

City Manager Peggy Daigle is scheduled to meet later this month with Orono and university officials to discuss the issue.