PARIS – The Board of Selectmen voted Monday night to hold a public hearing Sept. 16 on turning off 41 streetlights.
Voters at the annual town meeting June 15 added $3,500 to the streetlights account to keep all 307 on.
On Monday, selectmen debated whether voters were signaling they wanted all the streetlights to stay on.
Janet Jamison, a member of the Budget Committee, said she believed voters were reacting to the decision-making process. No public hearing had been held prior to the selectmen’s decision to turn off some lights to save money.
“Move forward with it,” Jamison said. “People may have objections but if you don’t take up the leadership, it will never be addressed.”
The town leases the streetlight fixtures from Central Maine Power and pays the company between $150 and $175 a year, Town Manager Amy Bernard has said.
“I think we did it backward,” Selectman Robert Wessels said. “We should have had the public hearing first then take the money out.”
Wessels said the existing list of 41 streetlights is a good starting point and the board should ask residents which ones they want to keep and which they would like turned off.
Bernard said she would post a notice on the 41 utility poles advising residents of the proposed action and the public hearing in September.
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