ALBANY — On Thursday night Tim Turner, a County commissioner said, “You will be voting here. We listened to the people.”
But it wasn’t the end of the discussion for those that had assembled in Albany Town Hall.
Many said they wanted to be better heard by the county commissioners. They also talked about how to communicate with each other in the Unorganized Territory.
“I feel like we need this community to come together like this, in this hall,” said Joan Kimball, who held the registrar position for the past 20 years and has recently stepped down.
Turner, who came representing County Commissioner Steven Merrill, explained that people who wanted Kimball’s job as registrar would need to submit an RFP and make an income request. The commissioners’ plan is to hire whoever comes in with the best bid and meets all the requirements, said Turner.
“We want to be sure all the laws are met and we have proper security.” He said they are hoping to have someone in place by July 1. However the job requirements have not been finalized.
The payment will likely be around $2,000, with $1,500 the minimum. Said Turner, “It seemed to be more cost effective to keep the process here.”
About 40 people crammed into the small Town Hall, many standing, a contrast to the poorly attended workday meeting back in March when Oxford County commissioners told the fewer than 10 participants that they planned to discontinue voting at Albany Town Hall and require voters to register in a surrounding town.
Several people on Thursday night asked that a requirement be that the new registrar be an Albany resident.
Joan Kimball had explained her job at the start of the meeting. Her husband John defended the importance of keeping voting in town. He said when people need to change their voting status, they stop by the Kimball’s house.
They [the commissioners’] don’t necessarily understand that, he said, “She ‘s here in town. You can make a phone call, you can come to the house.” He said another resident who works at the post office drops off mailed ballots directly to the Kimball’s house.
Frustration
As a township, Albany has no mechanism to vote, Turner explained to Bob Folsom who was frustrated by the county’s inaction on other issues.
“So you’ve got to deal with commissioners who don’t have time to solve your problems?” Robert Folsom Sr. asked.
“In a nutshell,” said a resident.
Kimball offered, “we can sign a petition and bring it to the commissioners.”
Resident Art Marshall said, “I don’t think anyone in this town doesn’t know who we are talking about who has raw sewage going into the Crooked River down to Portland. Nothing is being done about it. And our county commissioners think we should just be a town if we want to fix these things. I’m a little frustrated with the county commissioners.”
At one point a straw pole was under consideration to see where people stood on Albany becoming a town, but was roundly rejected when Marshall said, “To me it seemed like a very callous statement for an official of a county the size of Oxford to say, ‘Why don’t you just become a town again?’ I was extremely disappointed… They don’t understand Albany residents if they can say something as cavalier as that,” he said.
“It is an incredible privilege to live in a place that is not burdened by any more government. But it is a privilege that we have to continue to fight to hold onto to,” said Dean Abby.
Communication
As the residents sat on wooden benches facing an antique phone on the wall of the 1848 town hall, conversation turned to future correspondence.
How are you going to communicate the RFP? asked a resident. Turner responded that it will be in the newspaper and posted on the County Commissioner’s site.
“How come you don’t just put it on the board outside?” asked a resident referring to the marquee beside the town hall.
“That’s why everybody is here cause they read it on that sign,” he said.
Before the meeting closed, Abby asked, “How does everybody in this room stay in touch?”
“Word of mouth,” shouted someone
“Call Byron,” shouted a few more people, referring to resident Byron Lapham.
Bob O’Brien, of the Albany Improvement Association, who organized the meeting said there was an Albany website people could follow, but when there was uncertainty about what the exact URL was, he said he would post it on the sign out front.
As the meeting ended, people applauded.
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