OTISFIELD – Otisfield Historical Society archivist Jean Hankins told selectmen and more than 25 residents at Wednesday’s selectmen’s meeting that the society has had limited access to its records, stored in the town office’s vault, since Sharon Matthews became town clerk in March.
The historical society has been storing most of its archives and records in the vault since it was built in 1997. Under former town clerks Tamie Sunderland, Anne Pastore and Penny Tougas, Hankins said the society had been given “relatively free access” to the vault, which also houses town records.
In January, the society volunteered to consolidate town records in order to alleviate overcrowding in the vault. Under Tougas, Hankins said volunteers inventoried, organized and labeled boxes of town papers. In March, Matthews replaced Tougas and “indicated she did not have time to properly supervise the society volunteers during office hours,” Hankins said. “The archives group had little choice but to suspend their work with the town records.”
Hankins said that stricter policies instituted by Matthews have made it difficult for the society to have access to its own records. She offered three options for solving this problem. The group could work with town officials to arrange better access to the documents, it could begin to look for a new home for the records, or it could move documents to “an upgraded, renovated vault in the old town house.”
Hankins, on behalf of the historical society, proposed an expert evaluation of the Town House vault, at town expense. Selectman Thomas Nurmi said this would probably involve a builder and an architect, although “if the roof is leaking; it’s a moot point.” Selectmen will visit the Town House with Hankins on Saturday for an informal assessment.
Until the problem can be solved, though, Nurmi told Hankins that if Matthews was not available to supervise the society’s work in the vault, “one of us (selectmen) will be here to help out.”
In other business, Fire Chief Garry Dyer asked residents to inform him or the town if they find any of the eight to 10 orange cones that went missing during the weekend’s rainstorms.
Selectmen hired forest consultant William Newcomb to do an inventory of the town’s 400 acres of forest. A public hearing will be scheduled before the inventory of the 170-acre Heniger Park to determine whether the town would like to use it for recreational purposes.
Selectman Mark Cyr encouraged residents to attend the next school budget hearing. Although the overall increase in the budget will be 2.5 percent, Cyr said he expects it to be 10 to 14 percent for Otisfield, especially given the state’s proposed valuation of the town at more than $206 million.
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