Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce member Sherri Dunbar (left) turns in a petition calling for a new vote on the town planner’s budget to Wiscasset Town Clerk Linda Perry on Wednesday, July 5. (photo courtesy Kathy Onorato)
Supporters of Wiscasset’s planning department have completed a successful petition drive to force a second vote on the matter.
Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce member Sherri Dunbar turned the petition in to the town office Wednesday, July 5. It was certified with 222 signatures, Wiscasset Town Clerk Linda Perry said.
The Wiscasset Board of Selectmen must now schedule a special town meeting to consider a warrant article “to reinstate the Municipal Planning Budget that failed to pass at the Annual Referendum Town Meeting on June 13,” according to the petition.
Voters rejected the budget of $66,764 at town meeting, 466-256. Of the total budget, $57,764 would be raised through taxation with $9,000 to be covered by revenue from the Rynel Inc. tax increment financing district.
The Wiscasset Board of Selectmen’s next scheduled meeting is Tuesday, July 18.
Wiscasset Town Planner Ben Averill worked his last day Friday, June 30, the last day of the fiscal year, but has said he is willing to return if the position is reinstated before he finds a new job.
