Chris Johnson (D-Somerville), a candidate for the Maine Senate from District 20, met with the Bristol Board of Selectmen Sept. 22, to inquire about issues of importance to the town.
Chairman Robert Tibbetts and Selectman Paul Yates readily expressed a variety of local frustrations, including unemployment, taxes, road maintenance, weapons permits and, of course, the ongoing Wolf Ledge Refuge controversy.
“You don’t put people back to work, we got a problem,” Tibbetts said. “There’s no money coming in, they can’t spend anything.”
Tibbetts also objected to the mismanagement of services the state has taken over in recent years, including county jails. “Every time the state takes over, we pay more,” Tibbetts said. “It’s all coming back on us – local taxes.
“We’re lucky here,” Tibbetts said. “We’ve held our taxes the last three years.” If the state continues its current fiscal practices, that stability won’t last, he said.
The state has failed to adequately maintain roads in the area, Tibbetts said. Tibbetts pointed to School Street in Damariscotta as an example. Although the Dept. of Transportation paved the road last week, “They just skim-coated it,” he said.
“It will collapse,” Town Administrator Kristine Poland said.
Yates took exception to the state’s handling of personal weapons permits. “They’ve taken the revenue away on that,” Yates said, but final approval of the permits still rests with the selectmen. “The responsibility is there but the revenue isn’t,” Yates said.
Later in the meeting, the selectmen reviewed two personal weapons permits, illustrating Yates’ point.
“We don’t know either of these people,” Yates said. “If something happens, [we’re] responsible.”
Yates also updated Johnson on the Wolf Ledge Refuge debate. In July, Bristol voters rejected a question to “allow… any wolf hybrid kennel or any wolf hybrid refuge within [Bristol’s] borders,” but the state has not acknowledged the vote.
“The people say they don’t want this wolf refuge,” Yates said. “Where we go from there, I don’t quite know myself.”
“It’s good to know what the concerns are in some of these towns,” Johnson said. “Hopefully we can fix some of these things.”
Selectmen also appointed David Svens to the LCTV Board of Directors.
