POLAND — Residents will vote Tuesday at the Town Hall on a municipal budget and other issues, rather than at a traditional annual Town Meeting. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
On the ballot will be a question asking whether the town should extend the municipal sewer line northward along Route 26 from Top Gun of Maine to Cyndi’s Dockside restaurant.
If that article were to pass, Town Manager Matthew Garside told the Board of Selectpersons at its meeting Tuesday night that he would plan to move forward with the engineering of the project so it could go out to bid in time for construction to start next summer.
An informational meeting about the project is planned for Friday at 6:30 p.m. via Google Zoom. Details can be found on the town’s website as well as the town’s Facebook page.
Town officials chose to have residents vote by referendum after an executive order was issued by Gov. Janet Mills limiting the number of people who could gather in a single location to 100 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Officials decided at their meeting Tuesday to hold a special lottery for marijuana-related businesses in February since the town received no applications in time for the Aug. 12 lottery. Officials didn’t want to make prospective applicants wait until next summer for the next lottery, Garside said.
“The town has opted into all the permitted marijuana activities the state has approved,” Garside said. Local officials have limited to five the total number of licenses that will be issued for each type of activity, including medical marijuana retail, adult use retail and cultivation. Residents are given priority, but nonresidents may apply for any remaining licenses.
Officials on Tuesday also signed an agreement that gives members of Bog Hooters ATV Club of Mechanic Falls permission to travel over town property on one of its ATV trails which would utilize an existing railroad bed.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
