Met: Jan. 22

TCA talk continues

Issue: Jennifer Wadsworth, Turner Center for the Arts’ executive director, told selectmen Tuesday that she is worried about potential fallout from an article that will appear on the annual town meeting warrant this spring, calling for the center’s demise. Wadsworth said she feared the board’s acceptance of the article would be interpreted by the public to be a tacit endorsement, and could severely hamper TCA’s ongoing fundraising efforts.

The scoop: The article, submitted by former Selectman Dennis Richardson, calls for elimination of the Turner Center for the Arts. Richardson said the center amounts to a municipally-sanctioned arts program and competes with privately owned businesses in town, including his own retail antiques store. Board members two weeks ago voted only to allow the article to be placed on the warrant; the board took no position on the article itself. That will be up to voters in April.

Other articles

The scoop: Three newly constructed roads in residential subdivisions – Buck and Shire lanes, and Bluff Drive – have been submitted for acceptance as public town ways. They will be included in a warrant article to be decided during the annual town meeting.

Up next: If accepted, the town will begin maintaining them as soon as warranty deeds are filed, Town Manager Eva Leavitt said.

Reserve accounts

The scoop: Board members voted Tuesday to rename two fire and rescue department reserve accounts to more accurately reflect their use. Both accounts regularly are used to purchase small equipment as well as larger apparatus such as trucks, so the new accounts will be called the Fire and Rescue Department Equipment Reserves, respectively.

Watch your speed

The scoop: Each year the state’s Department of Public Safety holds a lottery to determine which communities will have summer use of its radar gun-powered speed measuring trailer. It’s the two-wheeled unit with a large screen that flashes a motorist’s speed as he or she passes and, more often than not, urges the driver to throttle back. This summer, for the first time, Turner will enter the lottery. If the town wins, it will have the speed trailer for a week or two; the only cost to the town is the time and fuel associated with having to retrieve the unit from whichever hamlet has it prior to Turner.

Timber harvest

The scoop: During a special meeting on Jan. 16, selectmen awarded the town timber harvesting contract to Paris loggers Thomas Richards and Sons for $17,296. About 30 acres of town forest have been marked for cutting.

Load limits

The scoop: It’s not time yet to worry about it, but selectmen already have signed the annual order limiting gross load weight on town roads to 23,000 pounds. Signs will be posted as soon as the ground frost thaws in spring, usually late March or early April.

Appointments

The scoop: Scott Hunter, Arnold Roy, Mary Beth Morrison and Pamela Bell were named to the board of directors for the Turner Center for the Arts.

For municipal news items, contact JT Leonard at 252-6040 or at [email protected].