WEST PARIS — With the town meeting quickly approaching and Town Manager John White being out because of illness, selectmen had a lot on their plates Thursday night as they hastened to put together a timeline for important upcoming events.
“One hiccup, we’re done,” Selectman Peter Collette joked.
Selectmen Randall Jones, Dennis Henderson and Peter Collette began the meeting by abating Western Maine Energy’s uncollectible personal property taxes from 2009. The board has been working on abating uncollectible taxes dating back several years and are now ready to begin a new list for this year’s town report.
“We’ve been a lot better about being on them,” Jones said of the back taxes.
Selectmen hope to have the town report, including the budget and warrant, printed by next week.
In other business, selectmen discussed the proposal of a new ordinance which would regulate yard sales in the town by limiting how many can be held and the length of time they are permitted to run.
A public hearing will be held on the proposed ordinance at the next selectmen’s meeting on Thursday, Feb. 25, at 5 p.m., then put before voters at the town meeting on March 5.
If the yard sale ordinance passes, anyone in violation would be fined. While the town code enforcement officer can warn violators and inform them of the consequences, selectmen were concerned about how to actually penalize offenders, because West Paris does not have its own police force.
Selectmen determined anyone in violation who refused to pay the fines would be taken to civil court, the cost of which the owed fines should cover.
The meeting ended with a discussion of whether or not the town should give money to new social service vendors. Several years ago, although selectmen were not sure when, the town had voted to refuse any new requests for money from vendors.
A South Woodstock food pantry, which Jones believed services a large part of West Paris, requested $1,500 from the town. Selectmen could not determine whether the town should give the pantry funds, because it is a new vendor, and decided to defer the matter to the Budget Committee.
Selectmen will meet again Feb. 25, when a public hearing on the proposed yard sale ordinance will take place.
capplegarth@sunmediagroup.net
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