At Somerville’s annual open town meeting June 21, voters opted to change the town’s treasurer, tax collector, and town clerk positions from elected to appointed positions and passed a $421,033 budget with no votes in opposition.
Voters also approved a $31,320.33 payment to complete repayment of the loan for the new town office years in advance.
Along with the repayment, voters followed the selectmen’s recommendation to approve the town office operation budget at $3,000 for maintenance and construction alone – trimming off the $5,350 the budget committee recommended be included to make the town office loan payments in the coming year.
The proposed subdivision ordinance was voted down 28-0 after Fire Chief Mike Dostie raised concerns about the property numbering process and Frank Hample said the definition of a subdivision in the ordinance may cause problems since it differs from statutory definition.
In elections held June 20, voters re-elected all running incumbents but wrote-in a number of candidates as well.
In the one contested race, Darlene Landry beat out Martin Hisler for third selectman, 50 votes to 33. Fire Chief Mike Dostie received one write-in vote.
The town clerk position, for which there were no papers filed, write-in candidate Kelly Payson-Roopchand was elected with 24 votes. Interim Town Clerk Lynne Tallberg received 12 votes, and six other write-ins received either one or two votes each.
First Selectman Susan Greer was re-elected with 66 votes, followed by Frank Hample with 5 write-in votes and four other write-ins with one vote each.
Second Selectman Don Chase won his seat again with 75 votes, and four write-ins received one vote each.
Tax Collector Sandra Dunlap and Treasurer Gerry Kimball won their positions unchallenged, and Frank Hample won re-election to the Sheepscot Valley RSU 12 Board of Directors, 73 votes against a single write-in vote for David Greer.
Read more about Somerville’s annual town meeting in the June 26 edition of The Lincoln County News.
