RUMFORD – Town Manager Steve Eldridge on Thursday night reminded selectmen and others that e-mails between board members are public information.
He also said, “It is inappropriate to e-mail my staff at the town office with political comments. I encourage all town employees to refrain from the political arena during their work time and would respectfully request the public to refrain from sending your political views to staff.”
This was in response to e-mails sent by a citizen to the selectmen and Eldridge’s secretary concerning excess overtime by the fire department.
Selectman Arthur Boivin expressed concern that such e-mails might constitute illegal nonpublic meetings of the selectmen. He said that citizens’ advising the board by e-mail rather than in an open meeting was “backdoor politics,” which he opposes.
In other business, a request for permission to install a special gate for use by all terrain vehicles accessing town land was approved by the board.
River Valley Riders President Dan Mitchell spoke for approving the new gate. Trucks, which would do excessive damage to the trails, can pass through the existing gate that is sized to allow snowmobile trail grooming equipment to enter. The ATV club wants to install an additional smaller gate that will let the four-wheelers pass while blocking larger vehicles.
Mitchell said there are 175 miles of state-approved ATV trails in this area. He said a 2004 study by the Margaret Chase Smith Center at the University of Maine estimated that more than $220 million per year in economic benefit to Maine was generated by ATVs. He said that the first priority of the 125 ATV clubs in the state is to protect landowners. The clubs maintain the trails and repair damage caused by the machines, according to Mitchell.
Selectman Jolene Lovejoy wanted to be sure that the snowmobile and ATV clubs could work together. Mitchell said that they do and that the snowmobile club president would verify that there has been a significant reduction in complaints about ATV damage since the ATV club has become active.
One local farmer pointed out that ATV riders who abuse private property are going to ruin the snowmobile business in Maine by leading landowners to ban public use of their land.
Selectman Mark Belanger said that the Cemetery Trust Fund is invested at only 0.67 percent while a short-term certificate of deposit would bring appreciably more return. Eldridge said he would find out if there were any restrictions on how the funds can be invested.
It was decided that a clear policy should be established concerning whether departments are authorized to award bids for items covered in their budgets.
Eldridge said that there has been some inconsistency on the matter.
Selectman Greg Buccina said that if the money was in their budget for an item, then that department should be able to award the bid. However, others pointed out that this may be contrary to the town charter.
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