NEWRY — Selectmen plan to ask voters at the March 6 annual town meeting if they want to change annual meetings to May or June.
The question arose after the town switched its financial year from January to December to July to June.
Town Administrator Amy Bernard said at Tuesday’s selectmen meeting that because of that change, a formal town report will not be available at this year’s annual meeting. The information in the report will be available in another form, she said.
The formal report would be available in June and could be distributed at the Town Office on the statewide primary election day, June 12.
Bernard said moving the annual meeting to May or June would align it with the fiscal year and allow for the report to be ready.
Other articles on this year’s warrant include:
• Do voters want to take ownership of the Newry Community Church in North Newry, as requested by members, whose numbers have been dwindling?
• Do voters want to appropriate $1,000 to start a maintenance account, if the takeover is approved? and
• Do voters want to adopt a moratorium on retail sales of marijuana? Bernard said the state Legislature has not passed regulations for the law approved by Maine voters in 2016. A state moratorium on sales expired Feb. 1. The town recently received an email from John Amann asking about possibly opening a retail shop near Sunday River Ski Resort.
Bernard provided wording on a 180-day ordinance from the town attorney. If it’s considered at town meeting, she said, officials could also ask voters whether they want to allow retail sales, testing facilities and/or grow operations or some combination of those options.
In other business Tuesday, selectmen voted to keep regular board meetings at 7:30 a.m. Tuesdays. A resident requested a change to 5 p.m., but members said that would require comp time for the office staff attending and require Selectman Gary Wight to take vacation time from his job. They also noted that in the past, board meetings were in the mornings. Selectmen said they could be flexible in meeting times.
The board also decided to solicit nominations Spirit of America award, a recognition going to a volunteer. Anyone with suggestions is asked to contact the Town Office.
The next selectmen meeting is at 7:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 12, at the Town Office to continue work on the municipal budget.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.