CANTON — Enhanced 911 numbering will soon get underway after training on Tuesday at the Town Office, Administrator Scotty Kilbreth told selectmen Thursday night.

Kilbreth, who is also the town code enforcement officer, volunteered himself and the office staff to take the training. He said he is just waiting for the state to send him information so he can get on the E911 website and start the work.

“It would be advantageous to the office, because a lot of times many of our tax records do not have physical addresses to them. They just have P.O. boxes and it’s very difficult to search for information.”

As code enforcement officer, Kilbreth said he can ensure that new houses being built will be numbered for the system.

Selectmen Chairman Donny Hutchins told Selectmen Brian Keene and Robert Walker Jr. that they would have to appoint the office staff to E911 staffing positions.

“Why do you have to appoint someone?” fire Chief Shane Gallant asked. “We’ve never done that before.”

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“I know,” Hutchins said. “We haven’t done a lot of things.”

“Appoint away, gentlemen,” Gallant said.

Walker then motioned to appoint Kilbreth as Canton’s E911 director and Town Clerk Kathy Walker as his backup, before asking Hutchins if he could nominate his wife.

“Yeah, you can do it since there’s no monetary gain,” Hutchins said.

The motion was seconded and approved, 3-0. Selectmen Malcolm Ray and Russell Adams were absent.

In other municipal business, selectmen voted unanimously to grant an abatement to the town on a property housekeeping matter.

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Kilbreth said that in 2002, the town bought out a property in the floodplain using the floodplain-buyout money. But since 2004, a tax on the property of $910.85 has been carried on the books. Kilbreth said he caught the mistake when he spotted it on a printout. The property was listed as tax acquired.

“It wasn’t tax acquired,” he said. “We bought them out. This should have been wiped out back in 2004.”

Hutchins then read Kilbreth’s code enforcement officer year-to-date report into record, saying that the Planning Board has issued 13 permits so far with two more pending since April 3.

Hutchins said four were permits for new homes or replacements, six were for outbuildings, five were for additions to homes, garages and one substation.

Kilbreth said he visited each permittee, some more than once, and learned that they followed the town’s applicable ordinances and he had no trouble during each visit.
However, there continues to be one violation that has been pending since 2007 for a junkyard that he is following up on.

Kilbreth said that throughout the year he has assisted many people with questions they’ve had about Canton land use regulations.

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Selectman Robert Walker Jr. gave an update on a previous Med-Care Ambulance board meeting. He said they approved their budget for next year, which includes a subsidy increase to its 11 River Valley area towns of $1 per capita.

“So it goes from $18 to $19 per capita, which increases the town of Canton’s to $982 per year, but that is going to go into effect on July 1, because half the towns went on a calendar year and half the towns are on a fiscal year,” Walker said.

“So does that include the ambulance?” Hutchins asked.

“Probably not,” Walker said.

“Where are we going to put it?” fire Chief Gallant asked.

Hutchins said selectmen are still working on that matter.

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“They want us to become first responders again, but they don’t want to come forth with the training,” Gallant said.

“Sounds like we need a meeting, huh?” Hutchins asked, between selectmen, Gallant and Med-Care.

“Yeah,” Gallant said. Med-Care “has plenty of room now to keep everything inside where they didn’t before.”

Walker additionally mentioned that Canton residents can get a couple buckets of sand from the public sand pile behind the old highway garage, now that the Highway Department has been relocated to the old Maine Department of Transportation facility.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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