FARMINGTON — More than 100 residents gathered for the annual town meeting Monday night to approve a five year road capital improvement plan and department budgets.

During the day, voters chose Selectman Andrew Hufnagel and current budget committee chair, Joshua Bell, to serve on the Board of Selectmen for three years.

Four candidates sought two seats on the board, one held by  Stephan Bunker who has served as board chair for several years and Hufnagel’s term was up.

During Monday elections Bell earned 304 votes, Hufnagel, 226, Bunker 187 and Jon Bubier 142.

Running unopposed for two seats on the RSU 9 School Board, Eric Gilbert took 337 and Yvette Robinson, 324.

Moving swiftly and for the most part quietly through department budgets, an article for road repair brought out some discussion.

No one questioned the need to repair town roads under the article asking taxpayers to raise and appropriate $133,000 for a five year capital improvement plan but some wanted to see the amount included under the Public Works Department’s budget.

“I’m concerned that we have another line item added to town articles. We’ll see this every year?” asked William Crandall.

The amount raised this year is for road reconstruction on Voter Hill and work on Johnson Heights this year.  The amount will be combined with the expected $173,000 from the Maine State Urban Renewal Initative Program.

Roads were prioritized according to need for the plan, one that will ask for about double the amount from taxpayers next year.

“We don’t have the funding to meet those priorities. Relying on URIP funds is not enough. We’re falling behind and need to step up to the plate,” Town Manager Richard Davis said.

The Public Works budget includes winter road maintenance, costs for sand, salt and plowing. There’s little in the budget for actual road work, Davis said.

When Crandall asked why the town’s been able to keep up the roads before,  Davis explained the URIP funds from the state, based on gas tax, have gone down as vehicles have better mileage and people travel less in a poor economy. The cost of reconstruction of one mile is estimated at $162,000.

One Court Street resident said the potholes on her street are numerous. The road is caving in, and it’s not safe to walk at night. There’s a great deal of road damage in this town that’s not been taken care of.

The $162,000 estimate means only a couple miles of road a year are done. It’s only a start, every road in town needs work, said Lance Harvell.

If voters had turned down the plan, the town would attempt to do a portion of Voter Hill, Davis said.

Rather than put it in the Public Works budget, Selectmen decided to put the question squarely in front of voters, said Selectman Stephan Bunker. It’s a multi-year project to get the town back up to where it was.

“No one is arguing against fixing roads,” said Charles Webster, also questioning the separate article rather than being in one vote. “We all drive around and know how bad they are.”

It’s difficult to come to town meeting and look at the budget when it’s not under one department budget. It’s difficult to see where all the money is going, Crandall said.

Taken as a separate article, the funds are dedicated to that road project and can’t be used within elsewhere in the department and the money can still be used if the project takes more than a year to do, said Dennis O’Neil.

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