Board: Turner selectmen

Met: Jan. 7

Road trip

The scoop: Assistant fire Chief Ross Gagne and several firefighters were leaving Friday for Boswell, Pa., to look at a prospective firetruck, according to fire Chief Mike Arsenault. Boswell’s fire department wants $60,000 for the truck, a 1993 International, which would be put into use here as a multifunction vehicle. If it meets the department’s criteria, Gagne and the others will buy it and drive it home over the weekend, Town Manager Eva Leavitt said.

Dispatch contract OK’d

The scoop: Selectmen approved renewal of an emergency dispatching contract with the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department at the hourly rate of $27. “The final bill is all related to how many calls we get,” Leavitt said. In 2007, the department billed the town $1,671 for handling its emergency calls.



Timber harvest bids

The scoop: A special selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday to review bids received and award a contract to harvest timber from the town forest. Bidding is open until close of business on Tuesday, Jan. 15.

Sherm Small from New England Forestry Foundation will supervise the bidding and harvesting process for the town.

Warrant articles proposed

Issue: Former Selectman Dennis Richardson wants the town to dissolve the Turner Center for the Arts. Richardson, who owns an antiques store, believes that the municipally sponsored artist’s program is a conflict of interest that denies him revenue.

The scoop: Richardson on Tuesday presented the board with a pair of articles he wants placed on the warrant for April’s annual town meeting. The first would reverse a vote taken during town meeting two years ago to establish funding and oversight of the arts center, essentially nullifying its existence. The second would establish a municipal non-compete policy with regard to retail sales. In effect, the town would be barred from offering anything for sale that another merchant in town might already sell.

Up next: After discussion, board members voted 4-1, Jody Goodwin opposing, to place Richardson’s first article on the warrant. The second proposal was judged incomplete and Richardson withdrew it. However, he still has the option of presenting it through a citizen’s petition.



Appointments

The scoop: Selectmen named Joyce Loulin as registrar of voters and assistant town clerk. Additionally, Buckfield resident Elizabeth Couvorn was named to the Turner Center for the Arts’ supervisory board.

For municipal news items, contact JT Leonard at 252-6040 or at [email protected].