Roughly 85 Vinalhaven residents attended a special town meeting Sept. 9 to approve funding for a number of projects. Surprisingly, turnout for this meeting was higher than it had been for the annual town meeting held three months before. On the agenda were the repaving of the island’s major roads, the purchase of furnishings for the town office, repairs to the town’s backhoe and funding for the Knox County Resident Deputy Program.
Most discussion focused on the paving project, with the town appropriating an extra $700,000 for a private contractor to pave approximately eight miles of town-maintained roads, including the northern two-thirds of the North Haven Road.
Concurrently, the Maine Department of Transportation will be repaving the nearly six miles of state-aid roads, including all of Main Street, Pequot Road, High Street and the southern third of the North Haven Road. The most notable results of this project will be the resurfacing of the major streets in the village, which have been in rough shape since the sewer was installed last year, and the repaving of the entire North Haven Road, parts of which have been in extremely poor condition for quite some time now.
A number of citizens were concerned that the town wasn’t prepared for the paving – that that the appropriate shouldering and ditching were not completed, that too few culverts had been replaced, and that an acceptable crown could not be put on the road in its current state. There was also concern with the cost. A transportation department representative was on hand and assured those present that the roads were in suitable condition for repaving and that the new road surface should last at least 10-15 years. In the end, the measure passed by a wide margin with the suggestion that funds be set aside for additional ditching and shouldering once paving is completed.
The other measure prompting significant discussion was the appropriation of nearly $18,000 for the Knox County Resident Deputy Program, under which a Knox County law enforcement officer is given an increase in salary and is provided housing in exchange for taking up residence on the island. Vinalhaven has had limited policing service for a number of years, with no law enforcement “on call” for emergencies a large part of the week.
The Resident Deputy program aims to solve this problem and will bring another young family to the island. Many at the meeting had reservations with providing these extra benefits to bring someone to the island, citing the many people who have moved here for employment with no such treatment. Eventually, however, a large majority agreed that law enforcement was needed and that it was worth the extra cost to the town.
Sean Gambrel is a Island Institute Fellow on Vinalhaven