It is town meeting time once again. Each March, residents in smaller communities head to town halls, gymnasiums or any other gathering place suitable to accommodate a large number of people in order to vote on a number of important topics.
No less than six town meetings were slated for this past Monday, with many others slated over the next few weeks.
Writing about town meetings for the newspaper can be both thought-provoking and entertaining at times. Some are rather mundane in that budgets get passed with little fanfare or discussion. But every so often, I’ve covered a town meeting where tempers start to flare over heated topics.
Those intense debates can be about something as simple as who plows snow in the community to whether a town should buy new flags to be placed in their cemeteries. One wouldn’t think such harmless topics would stir great debate, but they can.
In years past, I’ve done town meetings that were all-day affairs. I recall one particular town meeting many years ago in the town of Washington (located in Knox County), which began at 9 a.m., broke for lunch at noon, and resumed an hour later to continue until nearly 5 p.m. Fortunately, and brilliantly done on that town’s part, the local Girl Scout troop sold lunch items for people to enjoy right at the meeting. There’s nothing like a captive, hungry audience to boost sales of snacks.
I don’t recall there being too many hot topics in the warrant articles. I do remember nearly an hour was spent discussing whether the following year’s town meeting should be held on Saturday morning or later in the evening. Some argued they worked during the day on Saturday and would prefer a later meeting. Seniors countered they preferred the morning sessions and would not attend if it was held later in the evening.
Such is the case with town meetings. You never quite know what you are in for until you go to them.
Will Spring be sprung?
Spring officially arrives, at least according to the calendar, on Thursday. Clearly, Mother Nature has not gotten that memo as nearly two feet of snow was just dumped on southern Aroostook County this past Thursday.
Kudos to the town of Houlton’s public works department for doing another fine job of clearing out the massive amounts of snow. Sure, there are those that feel roads should be plowed immediately and repeatedly. That’s understandable, but not practical.
Those who work for the town’s public works department often find themselves working many long shifts trying to keep the main thoroughfares clean and clear. Sometimes, that means side roads have to take a back seat and get cleared later, rather than sooner.
Downtown was also dicey Thursday and Friday, as there was simply no place for the crews to put the snow. That meant parking spaces in front of some businesses, including our office here on Court Street, were buried in snow.
As messy as the roads were Thursday and Friday, no major accidents were reported to police. And by Sunday afternoon, just about all of the snow was cleared from the downtown.
So where does all that snow go? When I lived on the coast, the communities simply dumped the snow into the ocean. Here in Houlton, those dump truck loads get piled in the town lot on Hillview Avenue. Take a drive up that street sometime and you’ll be amazed at the mountain of snow that is there these days. At this rate, that pile of snow could still be here in June.
Joseph Cyr is a staff writer for the Houlton Pioneer Times. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect that of the newspaper. He can be reached at pioneertimes@nepublish.com or 532-2281.
