By Kerri Pepoy,Staff Writer

OTISFIELD – Town officials may ask the Maine Municipal Association to assist them with determining how much a town manager would cost.

“We thought that was the best way; that’s why we became a member of MMA,” Selectman Tom Nurmi said Thursday.

“We will give it to the Finance Committee first and proceed from there,” said Nurmi.

At its regular meeting Wednesday, the Board of Selectmen discussed the idea of asking for help from MMA to determine the financial impact of hiring a town manager for the lakeshore town of 1,600.

The issue of whether to hire a town manager has received a growing amount of attention in Otisfield after the recent release of a report by the Government Study Committee that recommended hiring a town manager and increasing the Board of Selectmen from three members to five.

The five-member study committee conducted 22 months of research that examined government structure in Otisfield. It estimates that a town manager would cost about $20,000 more per year in expenditures; however, Board Chairman Mark Cyr has said a town manager would likely cost closer to $40,000 to $50,000 more per year when insurance and benefits are taken into account.

At its Feb. 1 regular meeting, the board voted 2-1 to put the question of whether to hire a town manager on the ballot at the annual town meeting in June.

Nurmi said Thursday that the board will meet with the Finance Committee to discuss the issue and then probably have committee members contact MMA for assistance in determining the cost.

At the meeting Wednesday, Cyr said he neither supported nor opposed the idea of a town manager at this point in time. “Until I see all the figures, I don’t know which way I’d vote,” he said.

He noted that Otisfield is growing, adding, “At some point in time, this town will need a town manager. But it could be in 20 years, or it could be this year.”

If residents vote in June to hire a town manager, the Finance Committee will have a full year to work on the budgeting of the position prior to the town meeting in June 2007.

In other business, Administrative Assistant Marianne Izzo-Morin said the March town meeting will be Saturday, March 4, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The meeting will be held in the Otisfield Community School. All registered voters will be checked in by the registrar.

Otisfield is changing from a calendar year to a fiscal year this year, hence the town meetings in March and June.