Monmouth: Residents were asked on November 2 to choose among three options for the municipal police services. The choices were: (1) maintaining the department at its (current) full-time status; (2) going to a part-time department with 16 hours of coverage per day; or (3) eliminating the department altogether. Option 1 received 914 votes, followed by option 2 with 719 votes, and 517 votes for option 3. Town voters, by a 2-1 margin, also enacted a recall ordinance at the November election.
Windsor: Residents overwhelmingly adopted a citizen-initiated Expenditure Adoption Ordinance on November 2. The vote was 775-485. Under the ordinance, all budget items for town government will be adopted by secret ballot.
China: Two local referendum questions were shot down by voters at the November 2 election. A Water Quality Protection Ordinance, which would have replaced the town’s current Phosphorous Control Ordinance received 1,510 “no” votes and only 743 “yes” votes. A request for $15,000 to begin preparing for a revaluation was also defeated, 1,680 to 576.
Falmouth: Voters on November 2 rejected a proposed property rights ordinance that would have required the town to compensate property owners for any value lost because of zoning or other land use regulation. The vote was 3,945 against to 2,643 in favor.
Bridgton: For the third time in three years, voters here rejected a proposal that would have instituted a pay-per-bag trash collection system. The November referendum was a clear statement of opposition to the idea with 78 percent voting against the proposal. Votes on the issue in prior years had been at town meeting where the proposal was narrowly defeated each time.
Kennebunkport: Also defeated for the third time was a proposal to conduct a townwide revaluation here. Although the cost was scaled back, the $140,000 revaluation proposal was handily defeated on November 2. The measure failed by a 57 to 43 percent vote margin.
Arundel: Land use proposals were voted down here on November 2. A plan to move ahead with the development of a village center lost by a 54-46 percent margin, and the updated comprehensive plan failed by a 52-48 percent margin.
Portland: A referendum question that would allow the city to borrow $4 million to make improvements to the main branch of the city’s public library was approved on November 2. Planned renovations total $8.5 million with $4.5 million to be raised through private donations.
Belgrade: Voters on November 2 here decided to move social service agency requests and funding for the town library and community center off the town meeting warrant and send them out to referendum. The issue of social service agency funding has been particularly contentious in the past. Last November, voters rejected a proposal that would have eliminated social service agency requests from town meeting warrants. Annual social service agency requests total about $22,000. The library’s annual appropriation is about $28,000 and the community center gets about $72,000.
Knox County: On November 2, county residents adopted a county charter. A charter commission has been working on the product for the past year. The new charter creates an appointed county administrator position, converts the treasurer and registrar of deeds positions from elected to appointed, and empowers the county government to contract with local and regional governments for the delivery of services.
Rockport: Voters here gave overwhelming approval to an updated comprehensive plan and the creation of a charter commission. The comp plan was approved 1,586 to 326 and the charter commission won 1,572 to 352.
Penobscot County: A Penobscot County Superior Court justice has ruled that county taxes could not be used to pay for emergency dispatch services provided by the Penobscot Regional Communications Center. The city of Bangor brought the issue to court seeking relief from the county taxes it pays to help support the communications center. Ruling in favor of Bangor’s position, Justice Andrew Mead pointed to a section of Maine law that states: “Each county may establish a communications center . . . capable of serving the communications needs of the county and the municipalities which may wish to use the center,” and “[A] county may not require municipalities or other entities to subscribe to, contract for or participate in any service under this section.” The other Penobscot County municipality not using the regional dispatch center, and likely to gain from this ruling, is Lincoln. County officials have indicated that they will appeal the ruling to the Maine Supreme Court.
Fort Kent: The town council has approved the purchase of a new fire truck using $173,740 from a federal Homeland Security grant and monies from a fire truck reserve fund. The total price of the new truck is $209,555. The complete fire truck was purchased from K&T Fire Equipment Corp. of Island Falls.
Houlton: The town council has authorized interim Town Manager Phil McCarthy to purchase security systems for all municipal and school buildings. The town has received $46,000 in federal Homeland Security grants that will be used to cover most of the $58,240 project.
Mars Hill: In mid-October, Congress passed legislation allowing for federal tax credits to promote energy production from wind generation and biomass plants, and that’s good news for the wind power project here. Evergreen Wind Power, LLC plans to build 33 wind turbines atop Mars Hill Mountain. Company officials are now working on the financing for the $68 million project, and they anticipate groundbreaking this spring.
Old Town: Negotiations are underway for a host community agreement with Casella, the operator of the West Old Town Landfill. An ad hoc Host Community Agreement Negotiating Committee and the city’s attorney, have been meeting with representatives of Casella. Once the committee and the company negotiate an agreement, it will then go before the city council for approval. In a related development, the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) on October 21 denied an appeal to stop the site development at the West Old Town Landfill. The board voted 7-1 to uphold the DEP’s April 9 th approval of the landfill permit.
Mount Desert: The Acadia Disposal District, which includes a member towns, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, Tremont, Trenton and Cranberry Isles, has instituted a mandatory recycling program and is considering a pay-per-bag program. The district’s goal is to reduce the volume of trash that gets disposed of at a cost of $145 per ton.
Brooksville: Representatives of the state Department of Education met with local school officials and promised $1 million in state funding for the renovation of the local elementary school. A local school renovation committee is working on a scaled-down version of its original $1.8 million renovation project. The state is willing to provide $250,000 cash and a 10-year, no-interest loan for $750,000 toward the project.
Belfast: A noise ordinance complaint was dismissed by a district court judge because the establishment (a bar/restaurant) accused of violating the ordinance was outside the boundary specified by the ordinance. The ordinance was initially passed in 1994 and was amended in 1998. The 1998 amendments included a map showing the designated area where the ordinance applied.
Owl’s Head: The 2004 property tax rate has dropped to 9.25 mills, according to the selectmen/assessors. The town just completed a revaluation that nearly doubled the town’s value, to approximately $290 million. Correspondingly, the mill rate was cut almost in half.
Katahdin Region: A firm hired by the towns of Millinocket, East Millinocket and Medway almost two years ago has issued a final report on its consulting work to help the towns consolidate municipal and educational services. A key recommendation of the report was that the Katahdin area needs to create an independent, nonprofit group to help break down barriers, improve government communications and coordination, and create regional projects. At least three consolidation efforts involving the towns have, to date, been unsuccessful, including proposals to merge police departments, to create a joint transfer station, and to consolidate recreation departments.
Lincoln: The town council has authorized the purchase of an ambulance and the creation of a town ambulance service. The new service will provide employment for about 25 part-time, emergency medical technicians and paramedics. The service will be used to transport patients from Penobscot Valley Hospital to other facilities.