MEXICO – Selectmen voted unanimously Wednesday night to hire Dustin Broughton as a reserve police officer and discussed the idea of changing the way voting is done at town meetings.
Broughton has been trained at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and is working as a reserve officer for Wilton police, Town Manager John Madigan said in endorsing him.
“I think he will be a very good asset for our town,” he said.
In other business, resident and former Selectman Monique Aniel asked the board to consider switching town meetings to referendum-style voting.
“I think it would increase participation and comfort in people,” she said.
Madigan and Selectmen Reggie Arsenault disagreed.
“You would be taking away from a long-standing New England tradition. I think it would take away a lot if we had to vote by secret ballot,” Madigan said.
Arsenault said people told him they would be worried that smaller groups would use negative propaganda about issues to confuse people into making the wrong decisions.
“It’s better in town meeting form, because if people are interested in what the issues are, they can ask questions. I don’t want to lose the ability of asking questions,” Arsenault said.
Aniel said an open meeting could still be held on each article, but voting would then be in secret rather than by a show of hands or placards.
Board Chairman Barbara Laramee said the town would need a voting machine, which would have to be programmed for each article.
“It would be very expensive for the town,” she said.
Aniel said she would research the costs.
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