Canton rejects property sales by selectmen

CANTON – Voters at Saturday’s town meeting overwhelmingly defeated an article to give selectmen authority to sell any town property.

One problem regarding the issue seemed to be that selectmen had not held a public hearing before the vote.

An amendment specifying they could only sell the land in the failed village relocation project also failed 67-57.

Mary Dube said townspeople should have a chance to vote before the village relocation property property is sold. “It ought to have a second chance,” she said.

A meeting was held Thursday night to explain more about the village relocation project, which came about after the Androscoggin River overflowed its banks and flooded the village nearly five years ago. The meeting was organized and paid for by a citizens initiative group.

Project leader Diane Ray said the town voted three times to reject available funding for the relocation of town buildings and private residences, but had never actually voted the project down.

In another article, the town voted in favor of a petition to rescind the vote in March to approve $75,000 for paving to save taxpayers money.