MEXICO — The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted Tuesday to approve police Chief Roy Hodsdon and Lt. Dan Carrier for authority to continue investigation and/or chases outside their jurisdiction.

Town Manager John Madigan told selectmen they previously approved former Chief James Theriault and Hodsdon, when he was a lieutenant, for the statewide police authority.

“Now that Chief Theriault has retired, we have to approve Roy and Dan for the authority,” Madigan said.

Later in the meeting, Hodsdon told selectmen the Police Department will host its third neighborhood watch meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19.

In other business, the board voted to remove $305 from the Economic Development account to pay for a half-page advertisement in the River Valley Directory Four Seasons Guide.

Selectman Reggie Arsenault said the advertisement should include directions on how to reach the Mexico Recreation Park.

“It’s one of our hidden treasures,” Selectman Byron Ouellette said. “I definitely think we should include it. Maybe even add a little map to show people how to get there.”

The board also voted to schedule its first budget meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, in the Calvin B. Lyons room of the Town Office.

Madigan said selectmen and the Budget Committee would figure out future budget meetings when they meet March 12.

Richie Philbrick told fellow selectmen that the Mexico Recall Committee recently finished the final draft of a recall ordinance.

“I think we had a really good group of people in the committee,” Philbrick said. “It was nice to see some new blood getting involved with the town.”

The next step, he said, is placing the draft before selectmen for approval. If they OK it, the ordinance would go before voters.

The recall ordinance effort began during a Planning Board meeting on Aug. 29, 2013. Albert Aniel attempted to submit a recall ordinance to selectmen, saying the town “needed an ordinance to be able to remove selectmen if they were not acting in the best interest of the voters, abusing their position, acted inappropriately or were convicted of a crime.”

The ordinance was rejected in a 4-3 vote at that meeting.

Since then, a petition containing nearly 150 signatures was submitted to selectmen, and on Sept. 24, 2013, the board voted to have the Planning Board draft a recall ordinance.

The Planning Board voted against drafting it and left it in the hands of selectmen.

On Oct. 8, selectmen voted to create the Recall Ordinance Committee.

Also Tuesday, the board approved a pawnbroker’s license for the Mexico Trading Post.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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