DIXFIELD — The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted Monday night to look into the possibility of lowering the speed limit of a dead-end road from 25 mph to 15 mph.
Interim Town Manager Eugene Skibitsky told the board that he received a petition from residents on Meadowbrook Terrace, requesting that the speed limit be lowered to 15 mph.
“The petition was submitted because some of the residents were concerned about people flying down the road,” Skibitsky said. “The Maine Department of Transportation sets the speed limits, so the vote would be to request a change.”
Dixfield police Chief Richard Pickett told the board that a lot of the traffic on Meadowbrook Terrace comes from people visiting residents or residents themselves.
“That road doesn’t get a lot of through traffic, since it’s a dead end,” Pickett said. “Most of the people driving fast either live on the road or are visiting people who live there. Changing the speed limit would do something to make people more cognizant of how fast they’re going.”
Selectman Hart Daley subsequently made a motion that Pickett be allowed to approach the MDOT about changing the speed limit. The board passed the motion with a 5-0 vote.
In other business, the board unanimously voted to change the voting hours for the town’s June election from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., to 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“There’s been a lot of sentiment around town about the voting hours being extended to 8 p.m., so I’ve prepared a new election referendum warrant with the new hours, if the selectmen wish to approve it,” Skibitsky said.
Selectman Scott Belskis made a motion for the board to rescind the old warrant and accept the new one with the revised hours, which the board passed with a 5-0 vote.
The board also voted to approve Paul and Patty Jones as a group recipient of the Distinguished Citizen Award, and Kip Fletcher as the individual recipient of the award.
Discussion on the Distinguished Citizen Award began during the April 22 selectmen meeting, when Daley nominated Fletcher for the award due to his voluntary work with the town’s cemeteries. Selectmen Bob Withrow and Norine Clarke nominated the Jones’ for their years of teaching and their community involvement.
During Monday night’s meeting, newly appointed Town Manager Linda Pagels-Wentworth asked the board whether they could choose two people for the award instead of one.
“One year, in Baileyville, due to certain circumstances, we had two people receiving a Distinguished Citizen Award,” Pagels-Wentworth said.
Chairman Mac Gill responded, “If we’re going to select Paul and Patty, why not just choose three and have Kip in there, as well?”
The board unanimously voted to approve both the Jones family and Fletcher for the Distinguished Citizen Award.
mdaigle@sunjournal.com
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