WOODLAND, Maine — Woodland has a new steering committee that will work to create the town’s first-ever bylaws.
On Tuesday, the Select Board appointed seven members to the committee. Resident Lewis Cousins had suggested that the committee create bylaws to establish a stricter set of rules for the town amidst recent government dysfunction.
Each of the three Select Board members chose two residents from the seven who submitted applications and unanimously chose Cousins as the seventh pick.
Board Chairperson Matt Cole selected Ted St. Pierre and Gene Bradbury, Thomas Drew chose Lisa Milliard and Rosemary Monahan and Kathy Ouellette picked Jean Cashman and Lorraine Chamberlain.
The steering committee agreed to set up their first meeting at the town office during regular business hours. Though the new members had previously discussed forming a town charter that Woodland currently does not have, they decided to not pursue that venture because it could take two years, St. Pierre said.
St. Pierre is also a member of the town’s comprehensive plan committee and said that group has met during regular town office hours.
“We’re getting ready to put out a survey on where people would like the town to be in the future,” St. Pierre said. “We haven’t done anything that was in the comprehensive plan 20 years ago, so we want to bring this new plan to the board this summer.”
Comprehensive plans typically lay out a community’s goals for development and growth over the next decade and qualify municipalities for certain state grants, according to Maine’s Municipal Planning Assistance Program.
The next comprehensive plan committee meeting will be held Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 5 p.m. at Woodland Consolidated School.
The Select Board voted unanimously to award a tax abatement of $3,300 to Lance and Lori Albair’s property at 1262 Carson Road. That property had already received an abatement last year but the transaction was not properly marked in the town’s books, Cole said.
The town received a quote of $9,652 from Third Eye Global, based in Fort Kent, for installing 10 new security cameras around and inside the town office building. Board members said they would do more research on the wifi set-up and camera monitoring before making a decision.
Woodland Consolidated School paid $39,000 to install 19 new cameras from Third Eye Global but the town would receive a discount because they would use the same type of camera system as the school, Cole said.
The next Woodland Select Board meeting will be held Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m. at the town garage.
This story was updated to correct the location of the next comprehensive plan committee meeting.
