Voters at Bristol’s Annual Town Meeting March 15 rejected proposals to add a second full-time employee and purchase a $21,000 excavator for the town’s highway department.
Selectman William “Bill” Benner, who won election to the post March 14, made the motion to cut the town payroll by $30,500, eliminating the funding for the second highway department position.
Selectman Paul Yates defended the decision to request the funds. A second highway department employee would allow the department to become “more self-sufficient,” Yates said.
Jared Pendleton, a member of the Bristol Budget Committee, explained that body’s unanimous, 12-0 endorsement of the plan.
“It is possible it could save the town money,” Pendleton said. The Budget Committee, in its deliberations, called for an annual review process in order to evaluate the benefit to the town, he said.
Mark Hanley, Melanie Hodgdon and Ernest Poland followed Benner in speaking in opposition to the new post.
Ultimately, the article, with Benner’s amendment, passed with scattered dissent. Later, during discussion of the excavator purchase, Yates successfully motioned an amendment to cut the $21,000 requested since the town will lack adequate personnel to make effective use of the machine.
An article to raise and appropriate $5000 for the Bristol Lighthouse Committee sparked a debate about the town’s plan to eventually purchase the Pemaquid Point Light tower.
The appropriation covers a portion of legal fees incurred as a result of ongoing negotiations, Selectman Chad Hanna explained.
Citizens expressed concern about the cost of maintaining the tower. Currently, the American Lighthouse Foundation, with assistance from a local organization, Friends of the Lighthouse, maintains the tower.
The article passed, despite widespread dissent.
A proposal to appropriate $530,000 for road maintenance led to debate regarding the condition of town roads.
Melanie Hodgdon moved to reinstate the $30,500 cut from payroll into the road maintenance budget, stating her hope that the town would spend the funds to repair Rock Schoolhouse Road, where she and her husband, Ed Hodgdon, live.
Recent storms rendered the road impassable, the Hodgdons explained. “We don’t have a road,” Ed Hodgdon said. “I’d like to have a road to maintain.”
“We lost school bus service last week,” Melanie Hodgdon said, and neighbors had to ferry their children to the bus via ATV. She expressed concern about the ability of emergency crews to reach residents in the event of a fire or a medical emergency.
Poland and others asked for an itemized list of where the town plans to spend the $530,000.
Hanna said the precise figures depend on the price of asphalt, which fluctuates with petroleum prices, as well as the bids the town receives for the work.
“From our past experience, that number has worked for us,” Hanna said. “If costs are higher, we do less work; if costs are lower, we get to do more work.”
In the 2011 season, Bristol plans to repair portions of Fogler Road, Long Cove Road, Moxie Cove Road, Old County Road and Split Rock Road, Hanna said.
Ultimately, Melanie Hodgdon’s amendment failed, but voters passed the road maintenance budget as proposed by the town.
During discussion of the Bristol Fire and Rescue budget, Fire Chief Paul Leeman and Pendleton, the town’s First Assistant Fire Chief, responded to questions about the finances of the department.
The Samoset Fire Co. has a trust account with a balance of approximately $635,000, thanks to private donors and, in particular, a single donation of about $450,000, Leeman said. The terms of the trust forbid the Fire Co. to spend the principal and limit other spending to 70 percent of interest earnings.
“The department doesn’t ask for all its money, by any means, from taxation,” Pendleton said.
Following the unanimous passage of the article, Leeman said Bristol Fire will, in the near future, approach the town to request the purchase of a tanker.
“If you have a fire, water is your friend,” Leeman said. He estimated the cost of the vehicle at $150,000-$200,000. “We’re frugal guys,” he said, and the department will use donations and income from the trust account to “help defray the cost” to the town.
Voters, faced with two sets of recommendations on spending to support non-profit organizations (from the Bristol Board of Selectmen and the Bristol Budget Committee) sided in every case with the higher Budget Committee recommendations.
Bristol resident Jose Douglas voiced support for Bristol Area Library’s $14,000 request but objected to other spending and said the organizations should instead engage in private fundraising. “This is ridiculous,” Douglas said. “It’s not the taxpayers’ responsibility.”
Russ Lane, Bristol’s representative on the Board of Directors of Lincoln County Television (LCTV) made a humorous speech in support of the organization’s $8000 request.
LCTV did not receive any support from Bristol in 2010.
Lane argued that the cable franchise fees the town receives – $18,017.54 last year, according to Hanna – should, at least in part, fund LCTV.
“If I pay a mooring fee, it goes to the moorings. If I pay a dump fee, it goes to the dump,” Lane said. “If I pay a cable fee, it buys toilet paper for the town office.”
“We’re not asking for your taxes at all,” Lane said.
Lane underlined the expansion in Bristol-related LCTV programming, including coverage of athletic events at Bristol Consolidated School and Lincoln Academy as well as the Bristol Board of Selectmen.
“You can see these guys every week, turning their pages,” Lane said, gesturing to the Board at the front of the room. “‘Oh, look! There’s LCTV money. Let’s spend it on toilet paper.'”
Lane received a hearty round of applause from residents after the speech. The $8000 request passed.
Voters, perhaps exhausted by the highway department/roads maintenance budgets, passed a $4.18 million education budget with little discussion. A validation vote is scheduled for April 12.
Bristol School Committee Chair David Kolodin delivered a tribute to retiring Supt. Robert “Bob” Bouchard.
The work of finding a replacement for Bouchard will prove “a very, very difficult task,” Kolodin said.
Kolodin hailed Bouchard’s “ability to get all of his various schools to perform outstanding work.”
“He deserves our congratulations, our kudos… Bob, thank you very much,” Kolodin said. Bouchard, present to represent the district, received a standing ovation.
Voters elected six members of the Bristol Budget Committee – John Allan, Earl Cooper, Paul Leeman III, Jason Lord, Jared Pendleton and Albert Sears.
Moderator Don Means will appoint members to fill the remaining six slots. He asked anyone interested in volunteering to contact him.
Based on the budget approved at town meeting, the Selectmen “should be able to hold our mil rate for the fourth consecutive year,” Hanna said.
