A good crowd packed seats on the floor and bleachers in the Bristol Consolidated School gymnasium for the Bristol Annual Town Meeting March 17. The hottest issue on the 2009 warrant was funding the Samoset Fire Co., and whether to purchase new fire trucks.
Moderated once again by Don Means, the residents voted to pass all 58 articles in the town warrant, most with little or no discussion.
Article 17 generated the most discussion with Fire Chief Ron Pendleton and all three Assistant Fire Chiefs, Tim Miller, of Bristol Mills, Jared Pendleton, of New Harbor, and Gil Jaeger, of Round Pond, supporting the purchase of at least one new fire truck.
Residents chose to purchase two new fire trucks this year at a cost of $584,540 before interest. Motions to buy just one pumper tanker truck or to table the issue until next year were shot down by voters.
“It is the mission of Bristol Fire and Rescue to protect the life and safety of residents and property,” Chief Pendleton said. “At this point we feel we can’t provide adequate safety with these 33 and 37-year-old trucks. The past two years, we’ve had lots of break downs.”
He said the annual payment on one truck would be $50,000 over seven years; for two trucks over the same time period, the payment would be $70,000. The town received interest rate quotes from local banks from 4.24 to 5.14 percent.
Chief Pendleton defended the Samoset Fire Company’s requests for funding from Bristol, defined the Tracy reserve fund, and explained the fierce competition for fire truck grants.
The reserve fund was created with a gift from Mrs. Tracy, he said. The money was immediately put in a trust fund, and the fire company can only borrow a percentage of the interest each year.
“We used the interest for several years to pay for Rescue 2 in New Harbor, which cost $76,000,” Chief Pendleton said. “We still owe the bank $35,000 on that note.”
The fire company was denied a grant last year to purchase the needed trucks. He said the government received nearly 600,000 applications to fund new trucks from across the country, but only awarded grants to purchase 600 trucks in 2008.
Asst. Chief Jared Pendleton said the fire company’s priorities are dependability, reliability, and timeliness.
The trucks had two failures in the past two weeks, he explained. When a truck loses power, the water no longer runs through the hose. He said the reliability and dependability are gone with these trucks.
“When it’s your emergency, it’s so critical, every second counts,” Asst. Chief Pendleton said. “If we’re running around with jumper cables trying to start our truck before we can come fight a fire, you won’t want it to be your house.”
The $40,000 for the Fire Truck Capital Reserve Account in Article 18 generated some discussion. The money was approved to make the total account balance $70,000 with the $30,000 carryover from last year, according to Chief Pendleton.
The gymnasium began to clear out after Article 19, the final article asking for $188,050 to fund the Bristol Fire and Rescue budget, another fire truck note, and Emergency Management.
Support for most of the non-profit organizations in Article 30 was strong in the audience. Voters approved all $13,000 the library requested from Bristol. The selectmen had recommended $5000, with the budget committee recommending $12,000 to fund the library.
Carol Jaeger spoke in support of the Bristol Public Library. Jaeger explained the need for library services increases with the decline in the economy. The library’s investments took a hit recently, but more people are borrowing books, DVDs, and CDs, as well as using the Internet, she said.
Pemaquid resident, Judith Hope’s voice wavered as she said, “In a year where everyone is taking cuts we voted to spend $548,000 on a fire truck, and we won’t fund the library?”
Voters increased the funding for Spectrum Generations from the $3293 requested to $4000, because of support for the services they provide.
Miles Health Care received its requested $5000. Pat Lydon, a 19-year member of the Miles Board of Trustees, said the money is used to help people who need hospital services, but cannot afford to pay for them. The $5000 is the same amount requested for many years, according to Lydon.
Article 37 sought voter approval to increase the property tax levy limit of $1,046,471 by $132,875. This number was changed at the meeting from $126,898, which appeared on the town warrant. The article was voted by secret ballot, and passed with 49 “yes” votes, and four “no” votes.
Approval of the school budget articles began with Article 38. At this point the room began to clear out with seats sparsely filled throughout the room. No one spoke for or against any of these articles; residents didn’t even ask Superintendent Bob Bouchard anything.
A written ballot vote was required for Article 53 to see if the town would appropriate $634,756 above the amount required by the State of Maine for Essential Programs and Services. It passed with 58 “yes” votes and four “no” votes.
The dwindling crowd nominated Al Sears, Roberta Watson, John Allen, Paul Anderson, Jared Pendleton, and Bill Condon to the budget committee for 2009-10.
The entire Bristol school budget of $4,234,360 passed as requested in Article 54. That vote is to be validated by vote on Tues., June 9 at the Bristol Town Hall with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
All elections in Bristol were uncontested this year. Paul Yates was re-elected to the board of selectman with 157 votes. The new chairman of the Bristol Parks and Recreation Committee is Cerina Leeman with 159 votes. The same number of votes elected Harry Lowd to three-year term on the Bristol Planning Board. Bonnie Sablinsky received 160 votes for a one-year term on the school board. Julie Crider received 150 votes and David Kolodin received 121 votes, and both retain three-year terms on the school board.