NEW GLOUCESTER — Selectmen on Monday reviewed a first draft of the 28-article town meeting warrant, which will be ready for signing April 14.

The annual town meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, May 5, at Memorial School on Route 231.

The warrant includes all spending articles for 2014-15.

Last week, the 12-member Budget Committee recommended a $2.85 million budget; selectmen recommended $2.86 million.

In separate articles, voters will be asked to approve an ordinance titled Recall for Elected Officials and to adopt a Recall Ordinance Committee Ordinance.

The board agreed that $2,250 to pay for a town meeting moderator is too much and considered paying $500 for one instead.

The board will also ask voters to appropriate up to $88,000 from the undesignated fund balance for overruns on spending for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

There are five accounts that are short of money. They include Public Works for $70,000, heat, diesel fuel, and sand and salt.

Selectmen are seeking $5,000 to pay for an unanticipated midterm audit and the town manager search. The legal fund needs $2,500 to pay for recall ordinance reviews. The sum of $2,500 is sought for fuel overruns.

The 218th New Gloucester Annual Report is dedicated to Chandler Brothers, a family partnership and the oldest continuous lumber business in town. It manages more than 2,700 acres of woodland in town.

According to the dedication, in 1890, Solomon Hewett Chandler built the first mill on Lily Pond. Around 1989, Charles Peleg Chandler and his three brothers, Andrew, Roland and Fred, purchased the mill from Solomon. Bertha Chandler, Charles Chandler Jr. and Stephen and Natalie Chandler continue to use the name today.

In 1993, Chandler Brothers received the Maine and Northeast Regional Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year Award.

The company sold a parcel to the town for the current fire station.

In November 2013, Chandler Brothers presented plans for conservation of Lily Pond, now renamed Chandler Mill Pond.

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