In a good mood after barbequing and eating together on the church lawn, the town of Frenchboro gathered in the community building for its annual town meeting on June 18 to discuss 43 issues on the warrant. The meeting started at 4 p.m. and concluded by 5.
The meeting opened with elections of town officials and board members. Rachel Bishop was elected as moderator, a position she has held for many past meetings. Three selectmen next had to be elected for two-year terms. Davy Lunt and Arthur Fernald were nominated and re-elected. Paul Charpentier, a selectman of the past several years, was nominated as the third, but decided to decline. Several other members of the community were also nominated, but declined. Bob Roxby, who has held several town positions, finally accepted nomination and was elected. Rebecca Lenfestey was elected town clerk again, and Alan Davis was re-elected to the position of treasurer. There were also nominations for two new officers for board of appeals. These went to Nate Lunt and Anne Fernald and both accepted. Other municipal positions, including harbormaster and fire chief, were filled by community members who have held similar positions in the past.
Voters approved all expenditures and several new policies, including one to create special reserve accounts for the town budget. The reason for this, treasurer Alan Davis explained, is to be able to track money that is being saved for special projects and make sure the funds are budgeted. When needed, money from these accounts will be transferred to operational accounts. These individual accounts will include funding for road maintenance, the municipal building, the teacher’s hours, the town floats and ramps, the ferry pier hoist and the fire department. All local funds for administrative salaries and expenses passed as written, although each item was explained individually and townspeople asked many questions about the figures. They finally voted to accept the budgeted items, which were $12,522 for salaries and $21,825 for expenses.
There was an amendment to the library funds that librarian Ruth Davis brought into discussion. She suggested raising the $2,000 to $2,600 in order to support the removal of kerosene heaters and the installation of a hot air system in the library. Everyone voted, unanimously, in favor.
With School Union 98 superintendent Rob Liebow and MDI administrators Joanne Harriman and Nancy Thurlow in attendance, the Frenchboro School budgets for 2007-08, including $750 for the preschool and $157,518 for the K-12 school, passed with no opposition. Rob Liebow and the school committee also took that time to discuss future plans for the school, now that regional consolidation is affecting Union 98.
Only one proposed article was defeated. After several months of debate, the town voted against using the upstairs room of the new town office for an exercise space. Voicing concerns of legality and safety, Selectman Pat McEachron suggested looking for other possible spaces and funding for an exercise room.
There were 31 voting members of the community present and a total of 61 people in attendance, excluding the dogs and the kids wandering in every ten minutes, looking for popsicles.