WOODSTOCK — After meeting with members of the Woodstock Republican and Democratic committees, selectmen last week reversed an earlier decision to bar political groups from holding meetings in the Town Office.

The Republicans had been holding committee meetings regularly there for years. Last month Selectmen Ron Deegan and Bob McQueeney, citing the need for the town to stress neutrality, voted to ban such meetings.

John McCracken, chairman of the Republican committee, attended last week’s meeting with several other committee members to discuss the move.

He said that some of the business the group deals with is town-related, such as naming ballot clerks for elections, so the purpose is a mixed political and municipal one.

“We are a part of this town,” he said.

He said the Democrats could have as much right to meet there as his committee.

Jane Chandler, speaking for the Democratic committee, said, “We’ve been meeting in people’s houses.”

There had apparently been some misunderstanding about the options, she said.

Chandler said they had asked in the past about meeting at the library, but had been turned down out of similar concerns as the selectmen voiced last month.

“We didn’t realize meeting here was an option,” she said, because they thought the policy was similar to the library’s.

Sue Staples, a library trustee, said that board thought the town frowned on it, and “we wanted to be in keeping with the position of the town.”

Whitman Memorial Library Trustee Sue Staples, standing at left, talks to Woodstock selectmen about policy on using town buildings for meetings of political groups. A. Aloisio photo

With everyone at the selectmen’s meeting now on the same page, Chandler concluded that whatever the town’s final decision, it should be that “all or none” could meet at the office.

The selectmen said after hearing the explanations they were willing to reconsider. McQueeney said the earlier decision had been made somewhat hastily, and without Selectman Jeff Campbell in attendance.

“We had wanted to make sure we were apolitical,” said Deegan.

Campbell then made a motion to allow political parties with business that related to the town to use the office for meetings. The vote was unanimous.

Kiosk

The board also heard from Mike Lance, the recently elected Maine House representative for Woodstock, about a proposal from the Woodstock Republican Committee to put an information kiosk near the entrance of the G&W Transfer Station.

The committee would cover the materials and labor costs, he said.

Lance described the kiosk as more of a community bulletin board for both Woodstock and Greenwood rather than a political one, allowing posts on such events as yard sales, library and town events, as well as meetings of both the Republican and Democratic committees.

McQueeney said that with that scope, he thought it was a good idea.

Emily Ecker questioned whether it would be used that much, as transfer station goers are focused on getting in and out of the facility rather than reading postings by the road.

Deegan said the board would gather more information on the idea, and put it on the agenda for the G&W board.

Dogs

Chandler also attended the meeting to update selectmen on a dog issue on the Buck’s Ledge trails. She said there had been complaints about unleashed dogs making hikers feel threatened, and possibly posing a liability risk to the town if someone was hurt.

The policy has been to have dogs either on a leash or under voice control.

Chandler said the Conservation Commission, after weighing options, decided to post the trails to simply require dogs to be on a leash.

In other business, Town Manager Vern Maxfield said that CPV, the new owner of Spruce Mountain Wind, had donated $3,000 toward heating assistance help in the town.

The board is expected to start town manager interviews next month. Maxfield will retire next year.