FARMINGTON – Selectmen authorized the town manager and one of their own to take a proposal to county commissioners regarding agency requests.
The board would like to see all social service agencies in the county get their funding from the Franklin County budget.
Town Manager Richard Davis said Monday night that at least one agency has written a letter indicating it would prefer having one entity to request funds from instead of all the individual towns. Davis said the one-stop idea was “kicked around” during Budget Committee meetings.
“I’m all for it,” said Selectmen Chairwoman Mary Wright.
Selectman Dennis Pike said the concept was discussed years ago but the majority of the small towns didn’t want to give up their authority over how much they wanted to give to each agency.
Pike said he was not opposed to the idea; he just wanted to let people know.
“I think it’s worth a try… and we’re all for it,” Wright said.
Farmington voters raised more than $17,000 this year for social service agencies; that was short what the agencies requested. Davis and Selectman Stephan Bunker, who initiated the idea, plan to meet with county commissioners at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 20, at the Superior Courthouse.
“It would be premature for me to say anything right now, Franklin County Commissioner Fred Hardy said. He said he hasn’t seen the proposal but has heard about it.
“That’s been kicked around before,” Hardy said. Basically what it boils down to, he said, is the smaller towns want to be able to give what they want to these agencies.
He said he didn’t know if the idea had made it to commissioners, but instead died down before it reached that point.
“I have to keep an open mind,” Hardy said. There are 18 to 20 towns in the county and Farmington is just one of them.
County commissioners previously agreed years ago not to take on any new agencies, with the exception of one slipping in last year but which ended up not being funded.
It’s a prerequisite that agencies that come to the county don’t go to the towns, he said.
Hardy said he didn’t believe the issue was entirely up to commissioners to decide; it’s also up to the towns and the people in the county.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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