JAY — The Select Board will hold a public hearing at Spruce Mountain Elementary School at 6 p.m. Tuesday on four referendum questions going to voters Nov. 2.
Residents will be asked next month to consider allowing adult-use marijuana businesses in town, repeal a fireworks ordinance, allowing the Fire Department to recover certain costs for services and question regarding Maine Public Employees Retirement System.
Voters will consider the proposed Ordinance to Allow and Regulate Adult-Use Marijuana Cultivation Facilities and Adult-Use Marijuana Products Manufacturing Facilities.
A resident asked the Select Board to consider a new vote Nov. 2 on allowing the businesses. In April 2019, residents voted 204-200, rejecting the operation of adult-use and medical marijuana stores, cultivation and product manufacturing facilities.
Townspeople will also be asked if they want to repeal the Jay Consumer Fireworks Ordinance approved by voters in 2013. The ordinance outlines the hours of use, types of fireworks allowed, and requires a permit from the Fire Rescue Department.
Another article will ask voters to consider adopting a Fire Department Services Cost Recovery Ordinance. It would allow the town to seek payment for the cost of services provided by the Fire Rescue Department to nonresidents, or upon request of mutual aid from other municipalities, according to the draft document.
Residents may be billed for calls involving negligence or repeated false fire and/or sprinkler alarms after three incidents in a 12-month period, and car accidents related to negligence. Services the town will seek payment for include those involving hazardous materials, vehicle crashes and/or fires, and aircraft crashes and/or aircraft fires. Other services include standby for utility lines in roads caused by crashes and any other incident as determined by the fire chief.
Voters will also be asked to consider excluding the town’s full-time public works and Town Office staff hired on or after Dec. 31, 2021, from participating in a regular plan with Maine Public Employees Retirement System.
Townspeople will also be asked to appropriate up to $70,000 from the undesignated fund for payment to the retirement system for the associated partial withdrawal liability as outlined in the system’s rules.
The retirement system option was previously eliminated from the union contracts involving the Public Works Department and between the board and Town Office, LaFreniere previously said.
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