By Theron Larkins
Staff Writer
WESTMANLAND, Maine — Westmanland citizens met for their annual town meeting on March 20, at the Westmanland town office. Nearly half of the residents from the remote town displayed why it has such a rich Nordic heritage, as they made their brisk trek through the snowy remote town. Thursday’s snowstorm threatened to disrupt the rare town gathering. Fortunately, 4-6 inches of snow wasn’t nearly enough to hinder, let alone, shut down the Swedish colony. More than two-dozen community members managed to pile into the town’s rustic old schoolhouse, now serving as the town hall, where residents assemble once a year for the important democratic session.
The town office, which has hosted the meeting for a number of years allowed for attendees to feel right at home in the storm, as the lucky early arrivals found a spot near the woodstove and huddled together in preparation for the night’s extensive meeting.
The agenda for Thursday night’s meeting was not the typical one-sided sheet of paper one might find at a bi-weekly town meeting, but instead filled an entire 50-page book, overflowing with financial figures, balance sheets and school reports for the municipal year ending on Jan. 31, 2014.
Early on the agenda was the selection of new Westmanland town officials. Nominated and elected to serve as the town’s first selectperson was Erich Margeson, who was elected with 15 votes for. The second selectperson nominated and elected with a total of 18 votes was Ken Hixon. Lastly, serving as the third selectperson for the town will be Dave Cyr, who was also elected with a total of 18 votes. The newly appointed selectpeople for the town of Westmanland will hold their regular meetings on the second Tuesday of each month, landing their closest upcoming meeting on Tuesday, April 8.
Other appointments voted on Thursday included a seat on the school board committee, previously held by Dave Cyr, whose three-year term recently ended. Members of the town nominated Bonnie Weatherhead for the school boardseat before voting to elect her unanimously to a three-year term from 2014-17. Erich Margeson was nominated once again, this time for the appeals board and fair hearing authority, in which he was unanimously elected to a three-year term, also spanning from 2014-17. Lastly, the board of assessment review position was filled by the nomination of Margaret Johnson, who was elected unanimously to a similar three-year term similar to earlier appointees.
As for the proposed 2014-15 budget reviewed at Thursday’s meeting, the local revenues list read the following: Bus Reserve Account is proposed to settle at $9,819. Local Allocation is proposed at $39,000. Additional Local budget funds are at $0.00, as is the Transfer from Town Reserve. The Ministerial account is proposed at $500.00, leaving the fund balance at $14,241. Total Local Revenues included State Revenues with a State Allocation budget proposed at $500. bringing total state revenues to $500. The grand total for the budget was proposed to be $64,060.
The remainder of the meeting was spent voting to approve or deny a number of different articles. The lengthy list of the town’s finances eventually led to a uniquely large list of articles and warrants requiring the townspeople’s vote before Town Constable Patricia Anderson could report the final outcome for each of the 40-plus articles. Issues ranged from the selection of the meeting’s moderator, which resulted in the selection of Margaret Johnson, to the final article; the setting of a time and place for the town’s next annual meeting, which will, once again, fall on the third Thursday of March, 2015, and will be held at the Westmanland town hall.
