The Town Report for Hammond was delivered to residents on June 26, three days before the town meeting, following State of Maine guidelines. The town includes 100 residents.
Some voters noticed that the record of financial transactions for the 2014-15 fiscal year was not in the town report. Maine State Statute Title 30-A, subsection 2801, paragraph 1. reads: “Record of financial transactions. The report shall contain a record of all financial transactions of the municipality during the last municipal year. It may include an itemized list of receipts and disbursement indicating to whom and for what purpose each amount was paid.”
A petition was circulated asking the selectmen to postpone the meeting by one week allowing the selectmen time to publish the record of financial transactions and to have this available to the voters three days before the meeting. This would allow voters to see where the money was spent before voting on the new budget.
Before the meeting began on June 29 at 7 p.m. the selectmen were given the petition. The selectmen consulted the Town Attorney Daniel Nelson for guidance and he advised them to continue the meeting as scheduled. Twenty-seven registered voters were present and one non-registered voter.
The first selectman Maurice Brewer would not read the petition into the meeting record. The first article was to elect a moderator. Glenn Hines was chosen as moderator by secret ballot with 20 “yes” votes, 3 “no” votes and three blank ballots. Then the first selectmen asked the group to salute the flag.
Brewer instructed the audience to direct all questions to the moderator.
All of the articles presented by the Board of Selectmen were approved by a majority of the voters. General Government went from $25,000 for the previous year to $27,000 for the 2015-16 year. The road paving loan payment stayed the same at $24,500. Summer roads stayed the same at $2,500. Winter roads stayed the same at $27,600. The contract with Houlton for fire and ambulance increased from $4,662 to $4,895.
Trash hauling went from $14,000 to $14,500. The bathroom loan payment stayed the same at $3,258.48. The town office maintenance fund stayed the same at $2,500. The Houlton Humane Society membership fee stayed the same at $606. The animal control contract is with the Town of Houlton at $400. The cost of SAD 29 will be $64,024.
Only one article had a close vote which was the vote of 12 yea to 11 nay concerning whether or not to buy the Trio computer program (replacing the Quick Books program) at a cost of $2,500.
One resident complained the voters were voting “blind” not knowing how the selectmen spent the money the past year since the financial records were not provided. This was a first for Hammond as all previous administrations worked hard to either do the financial report “long hand” or by the use of Quicken or Quick Books.
The auditor’s report showed that the cost of General Government for 2014-15 went over budget by $7,000. There was no explanation by the Board of Selectmen as to why that happened.
According to State Statute Title 30-A, subsection 2801 paragraph 6 labeled “Penalty. A municipal officer who refuses or neglects to perform any duty required in this section commits a civil violation for which a fine of $50 for each offense may be adjudged”.
The selectmen pleaded ignorance to knowing that the financial statements must be in the Town Report. The selectmen promised that the financial record would be published in response to the petition.
Nominated for first selectmen were the current first selectman Maurice Brewer and former selectman Glenn Hines. Brewer received 15 votes and Hines received 12 votes. Nominated for third selectman were the current third selectman Matthew McAfee and former selectman Tom Donahue. McAfee received 17 votes and Donahue received 10 votes. Walter Metherell continues as the second selectman in his second year of a two-year term.
The meeting adjourned at 8: 40 p.m. For those interested, the minutes of the meeting and the final budget should be available at the Hammond Town Office on 13 Burnt Brow Road.
