JAY — Selectmen voted Monday to send a draft fireworks ordinance to voters at the next town meeting, which is expected to be in June. A hearing on the proposal would be held prior to the vote.

The proposed ordinance would require fireworks users to get a permit from the Fire Rescue Department prior to setting off fireworks.

It also sets guidelines of how far away from a structure they can be discharged and how far away spectators would have to be during the event. It also specifies enforcement and penalties.

An 11-member committee put the proposal together at the selectmen’s request after complaints of noise and safety were received in July.

The state legalized consumer fireworks in Maine as of Jan. 1. There are time frames and types of fireworks such as bottle rockets that cannot be bought in the state or discharged.

According to state law, consumer fireworks can be discharged between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. each day. The exception is they can be used between 9 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. on July 4 and Dec. 31, and the weekends immediately before and after those dates.

In other business, forester Steve Gettle gave selectmen an update on timber harvesting being done on town lots.

As of Sept. 14, the tower lot behind the high school has brought in $125,674.89, he said. That does not count money from last week’s harvest, he said.

Gettle and logging contractor Ron Ridley of L & A Ridley, Inc., initially estimated that $130,469.25 would be brought in from the harvest of about 152 acres on the lot.

There are 11 acres left to harvest, Gettle said.

“We will easily exceed $130,000,“ he said. “There is a lot of good pine left.”

Gettle believes the lot will be finished in another month or so.

On the transfer station lot off Route 4, $11,624.14 has been brought into the town from the timber harvest. There is some hardwood left, including oak, Gettle said.

He estimated there is $5,000 to $7,000 more in proceeds that the town will gain from the lot.

That lot is expected to be done by June 2013, he said.

In other action, selectmen reappointed Barbara Cook and Delance White to five-year terms on the Planning Board.

The vote followed a public hearing on the reappointments.

In a separate matter, Vice Chairman Justin Merrill reminded the board that the Town Office will be closed Wednesday, Sept. 26, so staff can attend election training.

Merrill also pointed out there will no selectmen’s meeting on Oct. 8 due to Columbus Day. The Planning Board will meet on Oct. 9, he said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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