CANTON — Selectmen will hold a forum in September to get ideas on how to spend the community benefit fund the town will receive from Canton Mountain Wind. 

Board of Selectmen Chairman Russell Adams said the town will get about $32,000 per year from the company that runs an eight-turbine wind farm on Canton Mountain.

Resident Judy Drury told selectmen Thursday night that it was important for townspeople to have input in how the money will be spent. She noted that the funds will have “a 15- to 20-year impact on people,” and “it’s going to impact everyone in this community.”

Resident Jackie Kilbreth said the town needs “some sort of a system to take care of that money that does involve the community. I would like to see a process develop where we are generating ideas and then have a process for determining what is the best idea that year.” .

Selectman Don Hutchins said the money would be a “form of tax relief. This town is very good at deciding what’s best for the town and what is (a good) investment, so if we can use that money to offset (taxes), we do have tax relief.”

Hutchins also thought the ideas generated by townspeople should meet “some criteria and rules that benefit the whole community.” The community forum meeting for ideas on how to spend the benefit money will be held Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. at the Town Office meeting room.

In other business, people who live on Main Street complained that the sidewalks are in poor condition. 

“The sidewalks are really, really bad,” resident Mitzi Turnbull said. “I have small grandchildren, and neighbors come down that hill and they’ve fallen off their bikes. There is a lot of dirt and gravel where you slip and slide.”

Another Main Street resident, Sarah Frank, said she had removed a thick layer of sod from the sidewalk in front of her house.

The selectmen asked Highway Foreman Paul McKenna to research prices for rental equipment to clear the sidewalks.

Also, the selectmen appointed Richard Burton of Auburn as animal control officer for a one-year term. Burton has been the town animal control officer for the past three years, Adams said.

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net

Canton residents attend a selectmen meeting Thursday night. The board decided that an open forum will be held in September to discuss how to spend about $32,000 per year in a community benefit fund. (Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times) 

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