Livermore voters on April 23 will consider discontinuance of Wyman Road to winter maintenance

LIVERMORE — Voters will decide at the polls Tuesday, April 23 on who they want to hold office and whether to discontinue Wyman Road to winter maintenance, among other issues.

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Livermore Community Center on Church Street. Two selectpersons and two Regional School Unit 73 directors will be decided. Three incumbents are unopposed while one director position has no candidate.

Selectperson Brett Deyling is seeking another three-year term. Selectperson Jeremy Emerson looks to fill a two-year term.

Director Andrew Sylvester is seeking another three-year term on the school board.

Director Holly Morris is stepping down from a two-year position.

Voters will be asked to approve an order of discontinuance for Wyman Road.

Since Sept. 2022, town officials have been considering closing the road — Christopher and Addie McHugh are the only residents — to winter maintenance. After the process was started in October 2022, a year had to pass before further action could be taken. That November, selectpersons voted to snow blow the road. In February 2023, Androscoggin County commissioners determined the road must be plowed.

In July 2023, selectpersons reviewed a recently completed survey that showed the deeded roadway for Wyman Road is in a different alignment than planned. The road for Cottage Terrace subdivision dating back to the 1920s is different than the area used now to access the McHughs’ home, according to the survey.

“Once we had the survey done, we were in the right,” Selectperson Scott Richmond said previously.

“The town has effectively been plowing a section of road that serves one person,” Deyling had said. “We are not plowing anybody else’s road.”

Additionally, approval is being sought to purchase a used backhoe for the Highway Department for up to $75,000. The town has put a lot of money into the one it has and doesn’t need a new one, Richmond said.

Also to be considered is a budget of almost $1.85 million, Administrative Assistant Carrie Judd said recently. It is $55,821 more than the $1.79 million for this fiscal year, which ends June 30. Much of the increase is due to a 3% cost-of-living adjustment for employees, she said.

For the first time, voters will be asked to contribute $5,000 toward a summer recreation program. It is held in Livermore Falls with children from Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls attending.

In January, selectpersons were asked to fund the program at $8,637, but by consensus chose to recommend $5,000.

The price last year was $75 per child, Selectperson Joshua Perkins said then. He said 33 children attended last year, the program also provides job opportunities for Livermore youth.