FARMINGTON – Town meeting has traditionally been held on a Monday, but not always as an evening meeting, Paul Mills told selectmen this week as they discussed moving the meeting from a Monday to a Saturday in March.

While the pluses and minuses of making a change were noted, the decision will by made by voters next March, Town Manager Richard Davis said Wednesday. If they are in favor of the change, the 2010 annual meeting will be held during the day.

Evening meetings in March can be difficult for elderly people, said Corabel McEntee, who told the board she would like to see the meeting changed.

“I’m not going out in the dead of winter in March. It’s dark and snowy. The elderly won’t go out to town meeting,” she said as she urged the board to try a change in 2009 and see how it works.

For younger parents, a Monday evening can make finding a baby-sitter difficult, said Bill Crandall, who also thought the change to a daytime meeting would be a community-builder for the town of 7,400 people, of which about 70 attend town meetings.

Davis said he wasn’t opposed to the change, but he pointed out that other towns face the challenge of attendance whether town meeting is held on a weekday evening or a Saturday. Most towns have only about 100 people attend unless there’s a controversial issue, he said.

The day of the meeting wasn’t the only change to town meeting up for discussion Tuesday. Selectman Jon Bubier wanted the board to consider moving the state-allowed spending cap for action at the beginning of the town warrant. As the meeting progresses through the articles, people leave, which leaves only about a quarter of the people left to vote on whether to stay within a budget or exceed it, he said.

At the March meeting, Crandall said a majority of voters wanted to move the article to the front in order to layout what the rest of the night would be.

“We have to stay within our budgets, the town should stay within theirs,” he added.

A move to the front of the warrant would decide how much taxpayers are willing to pay for their services and what services will have to be cut to stay in line with the budget cap, said Selectman John Frary.

“But not everyone wants to reduce articles,” said Selectman Dennis Pike, “it’s not always everyone’s intention to downsize the budget.”

No decision was made by the board although more discussion is expected during the budget process.