MEXICO — At a special town meeting on Aug. 20, citizens decisively approved three articles, including two to approve storm damage monies, which Town Manager Raquel Welch-Day said will be nearly entirely reimbursed as part of the town’s Federal Emergency Management Agency claim.

The first article, OK’d by 52-13, approves up to $180,000 from surplus to continue working on storm damage from the Dec. 2023 and May 2023 storms.

Welch-Day explained to the Select Board on Aug. 6, “We need money for roads (at least five roads). We’ve got to get the paving done of the flooded areas. This all FEMA work. We need the $180,000 so we can get Spencer (Paving LLC, Turner) up here to do the paving. We need gravel; roads that need work. We had to drain our reserves for the first storm.”

“There’s so much work out there that needs to be done,” she said.

The second article, OK’d 47-17, approves up to $145,000 from surplus to complete work at the Mexico Rec Park that will mitigate future water issues. This work is part of the town’s FEMA claim.

The $145,000 is for repairs in the Mexico Rec Park. Welch-Day said, “Mitigation work with culverts to try to vent those fields from flooding every time we get a big rainstorm. That falls under FEMA as well. We get at least 95 percent of that money back, whenever we get the money.”

Article four, passed 45-19, allows the town to adopt the Food Sovereignty Ordinance.

Welch-Day said many Maine towns have this type of ordinance. “It allows your small vendors, your private homeowners that want to sell jams and jellies, and things like that, to be able to sell without having to go through all the licensing and whatever that Augusta puts out.”

She added this became more of an issue when the Farmer’s Market started up this summer in Mexico.

Article three, which would have asked the town to adopt the Property Maintenance Ordinance, was withdrawn when it was discovered that what was being presented was not the updated version.

Welch-Day said this ordinance deals with issues with people who have piles of rubble in their yards, things like residences with multiple unregistered vehicles, broken machinery, roofs that need repair, etc.

“It will support the efforts of the code enforcement officer, who will be able to say ‘We have an ordinance for this. Time to clean it up.'”