STRONG — Selectmen agreed Tuesday night to consider excluding heavy trucks from using River Road, because the road and a culvert are being damaged.

Selectmen Mike Pond suggested the ban, which selectmen agreed to consider at their next meeting.

The road starts at the south end of Main Street near the Sandy River bridge and ends near the intersection of South Strong and Norton Hill roads.

“We’ve got some companies in town that seem to like to use the River Road as a bypass,” Pond said. “We have got a new intersection in town, and they should use that.”

Pond also wanted selectmen to insist that all agencies requesting taxpayer money provide a complete accounting of their finances.

“People vote on stuff because it makes them feel good,” he said.

Pond suggested that taxpayers might be giving money to agencies that don’t deliver services to the people whom that money was supposed to help.

“You need to know where they (nonprofits) get their money from and what they are using it for,” Pond said. “Just because they’re a nonprofit group does not mean somebody’s not making good money.”

Selectman Dick Worthley agreed.

“The CEO of the American Red Cross makes more than the president of the United States,” Worthley said. “Were you aware of that?”

A lot of the agencies “dip all over the place,” Pond said, and an agency like the Red Cross uses the Strong Town Office at no charge during blood drives but makes money selling the blood.

“We want all (their) financials,” Pond said.

Selectmen agreed to review the process during the next budget review.

Treasurer Sandra Mitchell said she is ready to start transferring town accounts to the new TRIO computerized bookkeeping system. She and Town Clerk Betsy Dubois will receive training through the Harris Company, which supplies and supports the software for Maine municipalities. The town’s auditor wants to help set up accounts.

In other matters, selectmen reviewed plans for summer maintenance in town and around the Forster Memorial Building. David Adams will mow cemeteries for $7,950, the same amount he was paid in 2011, according to board Chairman Jim Burrill.

Larone Crockett has filled the custodial position vacated by Emily O’Donnell, but with the understanding that he would be considered a temporary employee until April.

Selectmen will review the position and associated duties, because some work O’Donnell did exceeded the requirements of a standard maintenance position.

Worthley asked if anyone had contacted O’Donnell to see if she was interested in coming back in April. He said O’Donnell had planted flowers and improved the landscaping and Crockett confirmed he would not perform those duties.

“There are a lot of people in this town who plant flowers,” Burrill said. “Maybe we can get some volunteers.”

Copy the Story Link