Whitefield Planning Board chair Jennifer Grady smiles next to select board chair Seth Bolduc after being awarded the Spirit of America Award for 2026. Recipients of the award are honored for their dedication to the community. In the background, from left, select board members Brent Hallowell, Erin Anderson, and Brian O’Mahoney look on. (Emily Bracher photo)
Whitefield residents needed just over three hours to approve a 49-article warrant during their annual town meeting at the Whitefield Elementary School on Saturday, March 21.
A major theme of the meeting was the select board’s push for residents to connect more with their neighbors. Discussing the $13,000 warrant article funding animal control services, select board member Brian O’Mahoney said the issue is not with loose animals, but with people who might not have a neighbor they can talk to.
“The more you can talk to your neighbors, the more you encourage people who are new to the town to talk to your neighbors first,” O’Mahoney said.
Following debate, residents approved the select board’s recommendation, an increase of $2,500 or 23.8% from last year.
The budget figure to be amended during the meeting was a $22,313 line item funding the select board’s compensation. Residents ultimately voted to amend the article to go with the budget committee’s recommendation of $22,922, an increase of $1,109 or 5.1% from last year.
“The budget committee determined the select board didn’t want to vote and raise their own pay, but the budget committee decided that they have the same increase in cost of living that the rest of us do,” said budget committee Chair Charles “Chuck” Vaughn.
With the change in the select board salary budget, voters approved the municipal budget of $2,215,085, an increase of $609 or 0.03% from the originally recommended budget. This is an increase of $414,226 or 23% from last year.
Whitefield EMS Director Michael Johnson stood up to explain the significant increase in the Delta Ambulance budget, also noting he couldn’t speak to the service’s overall model. Johnson said Delta Service Chief Chris Mitchell explained the organization had a realignment of costs, passing on some of the costs from MaineGeneral Health to the affiliated towns.
Over the past two years, Johnson said Whitefield has had a 50% increase in emergency service call volume. He also clarified the budget also covers instances if other ambulance services are used in Whitefield, such as Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service.
The Delta Ambulance Service budget totals $138,780, an increase of $57,825 or 71.4%. This is because Delta Ambulance is increasing its rate from $35 to $60 per capita, according to the warrant.
Residents questioned the budget for maintenance and repair of town roads, which totaled $795,024, an increase of $328,999 or 70.6%. Select board Chair Seth Bolduc explained $315,000 of the total will come from the road maintenance fund and the roads carryover fund.
The increase, according to Bolduc, is due to the need to repair damage to roads used by Central Maine Power Co. over a two-year period. The road repairs were deferred until CMP finished work.
“It looks worse on paper than it actually is,” said Brent Hallowell, select board vice chair.
Residents repeatedly questioned why the select board and budget committee recommended different amounts, as well as questions directed towards the increase in certain line items.
This year is the first time the budget recommendations for organizations’ requests were divided into separate warrant articles instead of all being grouped into one. Every single organization’s budget recommendation was questioned by voters, specifically focusing on the missions of each organization.
A heated debate surrounding the budget recommendation for Sweetser Services led one resident to storm out the building twice, once while yelling profanities at planning board member Robin Huntley after she made the motion to move the question, ending the debate.
Tensions in the room ran high after the disruption but the angered resident had already left the premises by the time law enforcement arrived around 30 minutes later.
Whitefield residents approved the recommended municipal budget of $2.2 million at their annual town meeting on Saturday, May 21. At the meeting, select board members used the budget recommendation for animal control as a way to encourage residents to befriend their neighbors instead of calling animal control if they, for example, find a cat in their yard. (Emily Bracher photo)
Among appropriation articles, voters approved the winter town road maintenance budget totaling $467,300, an increase of $3,000 or 0.65%; the Whitefield Fire Department budget totaling $160,344, a decrease of $65,441 or 28.98%; the facilities maintenance budget totaling $37,670, a decrease of $16,280 or 30.2%; the town employee budget totaling $266,713, an increase of $7,053 or 2.72%; the recycling center budget is $7,248, an increase of $1,829 or 33.75% and the budget for the expenses of town operations totaling $145,726, an increase of $8,787 or 6.42%.
Residents passed the amendments to the automobile graveyard, automobile recycling business, and junkyard ordinance. The amendments bring the town into compliance with current state statutes. The last time it was amended was the town’s 2018 annual town meeting.
Voters also passed a building and development ordinance as proposed. Similar to the graveyard ordinance, updates are suggested so the ordinance may be in compliance with the current state statutes. The last time it was updated was at the town’s annual town meeting for 2023.
A solid waste commercial hauling ordinance was adopted without discussion. According to language on the annual town meeting warrant, the ordinance was created in order to obtain the necessary data to meet Whitefield’s solid waste and recycling reporting obligations to the state,
Planning board Chair Jennifer Grady was announced as the recipient of the Spirit of America Award. The recognition highlights individuals who dedicate their time and effort to better their community.
“Jen has also devoted many hours to public service through her work on the planning board, which she now chairs. This is her first time stepping into town government and she has been willing to take on the time-consuming work to research, and to engage thoughtfully with issues that affect the future of the community,” the annual report said.
Residents took to the polls Friday, March 20 for the election of officers.
O’Mahoney was reelected to the select board, receiving 108 votes for one of the two three-year select board terms. Jose Ambriz will be joining the select board after he received 93 votes for the second three-year term.
Huntley received 104 votes for one of the two three-year planning board terms. Write-in Joshua Thomas received 39 votes for the other three-year term.
Gretchen Morrow received 108 votes for the three-year term on the RSU 12 board of directors.
