POLAND — Selectmen on Tuesday approved the 37 warrant articles that will go before voters at the April 6 town meeting.

The municipal budget stands at $6.9 million, an increase of 3.73 percent over the current budget. The amount to be raised from taxes is $4.7 million, an increase of 0.21 percent over this year.

There was a difference of opinion on the nine marijuana articles dealing with the standards to be put forth in the Comprehensive Land Code.

Selectmen were unanimous in recommending the medical marijuana regulations that involved cultivation, testing, manufacturing and retail stores. The Planning Board also recommended them.

When it came to the adult recreational use articles, however, Select Board Chairman Walter Gallagher and Selectman James Walker did not recommend them. Neither did the Planning Board.

Selectmen Joseph Cimino, Suzette Moulton and Mary-Beth Taylor voted in favor of recommending them.

In a discussion prior to the vote, Cimino said he preferred not to make any recommendation and the decision should be left up to the voter.  He suggested that making recommendations on the articles defeats the purpose of the 13-member marijuana committee who drew up the articles.

“The Planning Board didn’t spend no way near the amount of time on all these articles as the committee who put all this together,” Cimino said.

Gallagher disagreed.

“People elected me for my opinion to look out for their best interests,” he said. “So if I decide to say no to one of these articles that is my right.”

Executive Assistant Nikki Pratt said a recommendation would be necessary because the marijuana articles are a “whole new section” to the Comprehensive Land Code Use and not just amendments.

In other matters, selectmen approved the Recreation Department proposal to rename the Lower Field in Poland to Dennis P. Sampson Memorial Field Badge 11. Sampson, a Poland resident, has been serving in the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department since 2005. He died in May of a sudden illness.

Vying for two selectmen seats for three years are Arthur Berry, Stephen Robinson, Stanley Tetenman and Bruce Uldall.

Melanie Harvey is running unopposed for a three-year term as a Regional School Unit 16 director. Claire Dick and Claire Walker are running unopposed for two seats on the Ricker Library board of trustees. Both seats are for three years.