ISLAND FALLS, Maine — The town of Island Falls elected Roydon Hunt and James Lord to serve on its board of selectmen, followed by a sometimes contentious town meeting which lasted more than two hours.
Several articles addressed at the annual town meeting held Thursday, March 18, drew debate amongst the townspeople, but all of them ultimately ended up passing. Article 2B, which would have allowed the town to create a dog park located behind the town playground, was defeated by voters in a secret ballot held before the town meeting took place.
Article 21, which dealt with the town authorizing selectmen to dispose of tax-acquired property, drew debate over a section in the article that granted general authority to the town treasurer to waive foreclosures. And amendment was put forth to remove this section, but ultimately failed to be seconded.
According to Selectman Glenn McNelly, that provision existed due to a property located on Granite Ridge Road in Island Falls that otherwise would have been foreclosed on, which would have meant the town would have had to take care of and maintain the property.
“Rather than having a meeting every year and waive the taxes, we worked around it so that she [the treasurer] brings it to us,” McNelly said. “She says ‘what do you want to do on this?’ And the board says don’t foreclose on that.”
Article 33 on the town’s warrant also called for a new storage building for the town to store several of its vehicles, an idea put forth after concerns were raised from a tractor fire at Southern Aroostook Community School in Dyer Brook
“We want to enlarge our office, and we want to get a grant for it,” Selectman Frank Porter said. “We’re trying to procure money — we’d like to get it on a COVID deal. If we can do that, it will be great.”
In the event of being unable to get money via grant, the proposed $85,000 for the storage building will be raised by the town.
The town’s total proposed municipal budget for 2021 was $394,000, up roughly $9,000 from the previous year’s budget proposal, a 2.4 percent increase. The actual budget for 2020 was $421,000, $36,000 more than the proposed budget.
