FARMINGTON – A Budget Committee member will ask selectmen Tuesday to move the annual town meeting to the third Saturday in March instead of the second Monday night that month.

Bill Crandall said he will also ask selectmen to move the article dealing with the state-allowed spending cap to the front of the town meeting warrant articles for voters’ consideration prior to consideration of departmental or other budgets.

The selectmen’s meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. June 24 at the municipal building.

“If the date and time were changed to a Saturday (daytime) for our annual meeting, it would allow a better attendance with a better cross-section of our town’s population at our town meeting, avoid winter nighttime travel for the elderly and others timid of hazardous travel, allows for couples with children a better time for acquiring child care, working people would be more likely to attend and perhaps build a closer community, especially if a meal time is built into the meeting or held afterward,” Crandall said.

Moving the spending limit question to the front of the meeting would help decide the confines of the meeting’s discussion as far as spending limits, he said.

“We all would like to spend as much as we need in our own family budgets, but are faced with the reality of what we can afford rather than what we wish for,” Crandall said. “I believe that we should be framing our town meetings the same way.”

Crandall’s request follows a public hearing on proposed revisions to the town’s traffic ordinance that includes increasing parking fines and selectmen’s consideration of replacing longtime SAD 9 Director Francis Orcutt, who has resigned from the school board.