DIXFIELD — The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted Wednesday night to sign the annual town meeting warrant.

Spending recommendations from selectmen and the Budget Committee will be presented at the annual town meeting 6 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at Dirigo High School, and the budget amounts approved will be voted on at the June 10 referendum.

It’s the first time the town has used this method for budget approval, interim Town Manager Eugene Skibitsky said.

He told selectmen he will have a discussion with moderator Dave Duguay about the new process.

“This is the first time that Dave has moderated a meeting using this method,” Skibitsky said, “so I’ll be walking him through it prior to the town meeting.”

In other business, selectmen voted to schedule a meeting with Auburn police Chief Phil Crowell, president of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, to answer questions on his evaluation of the Dixfield Police Department.

In November 2013, selectmen voted to pay the association $6,000 to evaluate the department. The association is made up of active and retired police chiefs, sheriffs and senior law enforcement leaders.

Skibitsky said Crowell had originally wanted to visit selectmen after the evaluation was completed, but former Town Manager Linda Pagels-Wentworth recommended scheduling it after the annual town meeting.

Selectman Hart Daley said there were “a couple of conflicting items” in the evaluation and he wanted to ask Crowell some questions about it in person.

Skibitsky also told selectmen that employees at the water district had applied for a grant to receive an ergonomic chair and desk for their office.

“The desk and chair would be 80 percent paid for if they got the grant,” he said.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com