BUCKFIELD — Selectmen directed Town Manager Cindy Dunn to again invite a Maine State Library employee who’s interested in preserving historical items from the Zadoc Long Free Library to attend a future meeting, Dunn said.

Peggy O’Kane, the digital collections supervisor of the Maine State Library, did not make it to Tuesday’s meeting as originally planned to answer questions, Dunn said.

Two weeks ago, selectmen tabled making a decision about what to do with the historical items until some things could be cleared up, including deciding whether the town would maintain ownership of the items once they go to the state library. O’Kane’s plan is to put the items in a digital format for all the world to see.

The items O’Kane is interested in include journals from Zadoc Long Jr., morning reports, a company order, descriptive book and clothing from the Charles H. Prince 23rd Maine Infantry, correspondence between Zadoc Long and his son, Zadoc Long Jr. and the first catalog of books at the town’s library, which also serves residents of Hartford and Sumner.

Dunn said she’s only had one resident express interest in serving on the Historical Records Preservation Study Group. She asked people to respond by Friday, Dec. 11.

Selectmen decided to form the group two weeks ago at the request of Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Cheryl Coffman. She said several residents wondered about the future of the town’s historical items and feared Buckfield might lose its identity if these items go elsewhere.

The group will consist of a selectman, a historical society member, a town employee and three residents. Members have five weeks to deliver their recommendation to selectmen.

In other business, the board voted 2-1 to return to open-ended town meeting warrant articles. Voting in favor were Coffman and Maida DeMers-Dobson, with Scott Violette opposed.

Before June’s town meeting, the selectboard voted to make the warrant articles closed-ended, which means voters can decrease monetary amounts listed but not increase them. Now that the articles are once again open-ended, voters can increase the amounts associated with the articles.

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