WILTON — Selectpersons Tuesday evening, Jan. 7, continued discussion of parking limits on Main Street and limiting through truck traffic on several side roads.
The Parking and Traffic Ordinance allows parking for three-hour increments on Main Street between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. It applies from the bridge by Prospect Street to the Goodspeed Bridge. From 6 p.m. to midnight on those days, and 8 a.m. to midnight on Sunday, there is no limit on parking.
Town Manager Rhonda Irish said food trucks, contractors working in nearby buildings and others often exceed the limit.
Irish said she conferred with Code Enforcement Officer Charlie Lavin and suggested the ordinance be changed to allow special considerations for food trucks, contractors and others. The exceptions would be coordinated with the police department, she suggested.
The board will consider the proposed change, as well as prohibiting commercial truck traffic on Gilbert Street and Preston Street during its next meeting.
The board is authorized to make changes to the Traffic and Parking Ordinance following a public hearing.
Wilton Selectperson Tom Saviello, right, listens Tuesday, Jan. 7, as Town Manager Rhonda Irish reviews the 2020 budgets for the water and wastewater departments. Dee Menear/Franklin Journal
In other matters, the board accepted the Water Department and Wastewater Department 2020 budgets.
The Water Department budget of $542,579 reflects a 7.2% increase over last year. The Wastewater Department budget increased nearly 3% to $843,942.
Heinz Gossman, superintendent of the departments, said, “Costs have gone up some but not a whole lot. The biggest increase is for chemicals for both water and sewer departments.
“I am also going to try to add an employee to split between the departments. This isn’t going to be something that happens right away, I am just trying to plan ahead and get it into the budget.”
A 12.8% increase in the salary line item reflects the proposed position as well as cost of living increases for current staff, he said.
Irish said the budgets equaled anticipated revenues.
The Planning Board is expected to table a Central Maine Power Co. transmission project application during its Jan. 16 meeting, Selectperson Tom Saviello said.
“There may be some kind of legal action,” he said. “I’ve had a group, a nonprofit, come forward and offer to help with those expenses.”
Saviello said no official proposal had been made, he just wanted to update the Select Board.
Last October, voters overwhelmingly approved a 180-day Elective Electrical Transmission Corridor Moratorium, giving the Planning Board time to draft an ordinance to govern such projects.
The Planning Board is working on an ordinance, he said.
Lavin said the Planning Board is expected to determine if the application is complete. If it is, the application would be suspended, as outlined in the moratorium.
Nomination papers for two Board of Selectpersons and one Regional School Unit 9 director position will be available on March 13 at the Town Office. All positions are three-year terms.
Selectpersons Keith Swett and David Leavitt and Director Irving Faunce have terms that are expiring in June.
Completed nomination papers must be returned by April 10. Elections will take place in June.
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