During their Annual Town Meeting March 19 at the fire station, Alna residents narrowly approved a $522,000 loan for a 5.8-mile repaving project to cover parts of the Dock, Egypt, Rabbit Path, Bailey, Lothrop, and Golden Ridge roads.
The passage followed an hour of contentious debate as residents questioned the wisdom of arbitrarily selecting certain roads over others.
Newly elected Alna Second Selectman Jonathan Villeneuve urged townspeople to consider waiting on the project.
“It might be prudent to weigh all of our options,” he said. “The amount of money at stake deserves a closer examination.”
Departing Selectman Tom Smith questioned Road Commissioner Michael Trask on whether or not the appropriate legal channels had been pursued for the project.
Trask, in a sharp retort, said, “the other selectmen” were willing to help him but “Tom doesn’t do nothing (sic).”
Smith, a vocal critic of the awarding of town roadwork contracts to Trask without a bid policy, cautioned residents on the 10-year responsibility of the loan.
Talk of the $522,000 project had dominated the select board meetings for a month but the article still caught some Alna residents unawares.
“I’ve met people in town who had no idea this was on the warrant,” he said. “It may be better to wait.”
The article passed by a vote of 37 to 32.
The other boilerplate issue before the 80 residents who gathered on Saturday concerned the Alna Public Funds Administration Policy.
The policy, authored by sitting Selectmen Smith, Abbott, and Seigars, would require the town to put out to bid any project costing over $3000.
The policy was placed on the warrant at the behest of Smith and several residents who raised conflict of interest issues surrounding the current informal process.
As it stands, small roadwork contracts are awarded to Trask without a bidding process. Smith had refused to authorize payments to Seigars, Deputy Treasurer Chris Cooper, and Trask for the work and questioned the validity of their claims of labor.
“This renders hollow the claim that these services cannot be obtained at a lower cost to Alna taxpayers,” said Smith at a Feb. 25 board meeting. “Furthermore there is no substantive documentary evidence that any road work is actually being performed.”
The “line item veto” drew the scorn of Cooper who called Smith’s practices both “oddball” and “juvenile.”
At the Town Meeting, Chairman David Abbott said the policy would potentially cost “more money than it was worth.”
Newly elected Selectman David Reingardt spoke in favor of a formal policy, “I don’t want people taking my money without accountability,” he said. “I think it’s important.”
Assistant Fire Chief Roger Whitney said a policy would lead to “layers and layers of bureaucracy.”
The article, as presented, included a specific policy but voters amended the language to reflect a generic one. The policy, as amended, narrowly passed and selectmen have been charged with crafting a newly written public funds administration policy.
On other warrant articles, voters amended funds allocated to the fire truck reserve account from a requested $22,500 to $7500. The remaining $15,000 had previously been shifted to the Reserve Account in 2010.
Alna School Board member Ralph Hilton urged residents to support the $22,500 request as the town prepares to purchase a new fire truck within the next five years.
Villeneuve, who spoke in favor of the decreased amount, said the reserve account would still be on track with the amended appropriation.
The nearly four-hour meeting, moderated by always-entertaining Cooper, concluded with a brief discussion on appropriations for local organizations.
The $14,657 amount requested by the 18 organizations included $1085 for Lincoln County Television, $1300 for Healthy Kids, and $5713 for the Wiscasset Public Library was approved.
Voters also approved a recommendation by selectmen to appropriate $80,000 from the 2010 Excise Taxes to reduce the 2011 tax rate. If other factors, such as school expenses and county taxes, remain constant, the municipal budget would be up roughly 12 percent from last year.
