BUCKFIELD — Selectmen approved the special town meeting warrant Tuesday night, setting the stage for a vote on a six-month moratorium on wind power development.

Voters will gather at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6, in the high school auditorium to decide the issue, which was brought to the town by a citizens’ petition.

Whether or not the moratorium passes, the town will vote on enacting a wind-energy ordinance based on state guidelines.

Town Manager Glen Holmes pointed out that if the ordinance passes,
the Planning Board still has six months to write its own ordinance and repeal the one voted on at the special town meeting.

James Parker who brought forth the citizens’ petition wanted selectmen to say they back the moratorium.

 Selectman Chip Richardson said he didn’t approve of it.

  Board Chairman John Lowell admonished people to wait and see how the town voted. “Let the people speak though their ballots,” he said.

Several people in the audience spoke against wind power, saying they don’t know about noise and how it really affects people.

Lowell said, “We will have six more months of fact-finding after the vote.”

The town will also vote to authorize selectmen to sell the Bessey Field property and use the proceeds to incorporate a lighted softball/baseball facility at the municipal center.

The last article seeks to appropriate $52,000 from the fund balance to complete the sand/salt storage building.

In other news, the board appointed Jerry Samson as licensed plumbing inspector replacing Kay Hawkins, who was ready to retire, according to Holmes.

Richardson brought up the idea of having five selectmen instead of three. “If one of us is absent that makes one person have a lot of power.”

Lowell opposed the idea saying that it was a commitment to be there and he had left work early to be at the meeting. He said, “I don’t see the need.”

Holmes said he could put a questionnaire on the town’s Web page to get some opinions.

Selectman Eileen Hotham said she could live with that but she was not in favor of more than three selectmen. Lowell did not vote to put out the questionnaire, but the two votes carried. People can mark yes or no to having five versus three selectmen if they choose.

The board approved an easement for the Western Foothills Land Trust for timber harvesting and management. The easement begins where the railroad bed intersects with the John Ellingwood Road and extends to the points where the former railroad bed intersects the town line between the towns of Buckfield and Hebron.