Residents will vote on a new police station and two other buildings at the May 12 meeting.
MONMOUTH – Some townspeople believe the decision to spend $1.3 million for a new police station and two other municipal structures should be decided at the polls, not at the annual town meeting.
Selectmen have decided otherwise, and will place the issue on the May 12 town meeting warrant because that format offers opportunity for discussion
“The issue is participation,” Town Manager Steve Dyer said, explaining that some people told the selectmen they feel that a larger portion of the electorate will go to polls as opposed to a town meeting.
He said the selectmen’s opinion is that people would make informed decisions after discussion at a town meeting and that public hearings preceding an election could be sparsely attended.
Steve Kolenda, a candidate for selectman in the May 11 election, spoke out against placing the issue on the town meeting warrant.
He cited the referendum questions that called for $2.1 million for a new police, fire and rescue building, $200,000 for renovations to the highway maintenance building and $200,000 for a sand and salt shed that voters defeated in May 2003.
The warrant article asks for an expenditure not to exceed $200,000 for a new police station, up to $815,000 for a new pubic works garage and a maximum of $317,000 for a sand-salt shed. The article does not include any renovations or expansion of the municipal building.
Selectmen recently voted to close the police station, an aging house that had been converted into quarters for the department, because a toxic mold caused some police personnel to become ill.
Police are temporarily housed in cramped quarters in the municipal building.
Hillier Associates of New Gloucester assessed the condition of the old building, which confirmed a high concentration of a known carcinogenic mold that is also causes other ailments. To remove the mold and secure the structure so that a recurrence of a mold problem would not be likely would cost $45,000 to $65,000.
“Something needs to be done. We have the police department in the town offices. It’s not a good situation for them. They need their own quarters,” Dyer said.
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