Angela Varnum of Dixfield, left, and Heidi Bennett of Strong were named Thursday as Canton town clerk and deputy town clerk, respectively. They stand next to one of the signs to be erected at town lines with Hartford, Jay and Peru. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times
CANTON — The Town Office is expected to reopen June 13, now that a town clerk and a deputy clerk have been hired, selectmen said at their meeting Thursday.
The office has been closed since May 18, a week after Deputy Clerk Nicki Girard resigned. Selectmen decided to close the office while they tried to fill the position and that of Clerk Carol Buzzell, who resigned in mid-March.
At Thursday’s meeting, selectmen appointed Angela Varnum of Dixfield as clerk and Heidi Bennett of Strong as the deputy. Varnum was employed most recently as a finance manager at the Monmouth Town Office and has experience working at Dixfield’s Town Office. Varnum said she is “very excited” about her position in Canton.
Bennett’s most recent employment was as finance manager at NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness) Maine. She has a master’s degree in accounting with a concentration in forensics and a minor in psychology, she said.
Board Chairman Russell Adams noted Bennett has begun “job shadowing” at town offices in Jay and Hartford.
In other business, Fire Chief Jason Vaughan gave selectmen an update on a 2007 pumper/tanker truck to be purchased by the town if residents approve at the town meeting June 18. The cost is $230,000, Vaughan said, and although it’s owned by a fire department in Alabama, it’s at a garage in Syracuse, New York.
Vaughan indicated the town will need, among other things, to add its lettering to the truck body. “The heater that we had installed in the pump on Engine 4, when we got it; we want to do it to this one as well,” he said.
In other business, Selectman Carole Robbins said former Code Enforcement Officer Scott Mills, who resigned in January to work part time in Hartford, advised her he’s willing to fill in for Canton until one is hired. “I thought that was very nice,” she said.
Also of note, Planning Board Secretary Diane Ray told selectmen she has found three residents to install the Welcome to Canton signs. Logan and Johnnie Morris, and Jeff Kidder have agreed to do the work, she said. “We couldn’t do it this weekend, so probably we’ll start next weekend,” Ray said.
Two signs will be on Route 108, one on the Peru/Canton line and one on the Hartford/Canton line. Two others will be erected on Route 140, one on the Canton/Hartford line and one on the Jay/Canton line.
Selectman Kristi Carrier said the town has four T-ball teams and a Babe Ruth team.
“The snack shack is all cleaned and ready to go and they’re looking for volunteers for that,” she said.
Selectman Robbins added that Gary Casey of Rumford is “willing to donate two telephone poles for the backstop at the T-ball fields.”
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