MEXICO — The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to amend the town’s toll road policy Tuesday evening following an influx of requests from organizations asking to hold toll roads on Main Street.
Chairman Richie Philbrick told those in the audience that the town of Mexico has been holding “quite a lot of toll roads lately,” from organizations in both Mexico and Rumford.
“After our selectmen’s meeting in July, the board agreed that we had to make some adjustments to the toll road policy that the town has had in place,” Philbrick said. “We took the policy that the town has used for a while and tinkered with it a little bit.”
Among the major changes to the policy included a limit of four toll roads on Main Street between Labor Day and Memorial Day.
Philbrick said that organizations interested in holding a toll road need to submit a handwritten letter to the Board of Selectmen and have the form signed by the police chief and the selectmen.
“It needs to be held on Main Street between 8 a.m. and noon,” Philbrick said. “Signs need to be placed on both sides of the toll road, stating what organization is holding the fundraiser, and what they’re raising the money for.”
Shortly after the selectmen unanimously voted to approve the policy, they entertained a series of toll road requests from local organizations that wished to hold toll roads throughout the month of September.
The Mountain Valley Lyme Disease Awareness Coalition requested to hold a toll road on Sept. 20, while the Mountain Valley Majorettes requested a toll road for Oct. 11. The Praise Assembly of God Church requested to hold a toll road on Sept. 13, with a rain date of Sept. 20.
Selectman Reggie Arsenault said that he was worried about so many toll roads being held in the month of September since it would leave no room for toll roads to be held in the spring.
“There’s so many toll roads crammed into the month of September, back-to-back-to-back,” Arsenault said. “We won’t even be able to let anybody have a toll road on Memorial Day. Maybe we should stagger them a little bit.”
Town Manager John Madigan suggested to the selectmen that they amend the policy they approved earlier to state that two toll roads will be held in the fall, and two will be held in the spring.
The Mountain Valley Lyme Disease Awareness Coalition, who was present at Tuesday evening’s meeting, said they didn’t mind postponing their Sept. 20 toll road until May 2, 2015.
“That way, you guys can approve two toll roads for the fall, and we can make sure we’re set up for the spring,” a coalition member said.
The board agreed to amend the policy a second time and allow the Mountain Valley Lyme Disease Awareness Coalition’s toll road to be moved to May 2, 2015.
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