BUCKFIELD — Less than 24 hours after setting a date for a special town meeting, selectmen reversed themselves Wednesday and scheduled another referendum to decide the 10 articles that failed in last week’s budget referendum.
Because 30 days are required for absentee ballots, the referendum will be held Tuesday, Oct. 6. A public hearing on the changes to the articles will be held Sept. 15.
On Tuesday night, the board had decided to hold a special town meeting Saturday, Sept. 26, but Select Board members Tina Brooks and Martha Catevenis said they heard an uproar from residents unhappy with the decision to hold a town meeting rather than a referendum.
The additional vote is required after residents defeated 10 of the 54 articles that were on last week’s referendum ballot. Among the articles that were defeated were the entire budgets for the administrative offices, rescue, the Zadoc Long Free Library and Old Church on the Hill.
That vote lefts those departments with zero dollars.
Wednesday’s meeting was a continuation of Tuesday’s marathon session that lasted 4 hours and 43 minutes before a recess was called at 11:13 p.m. That gave interim Town Manager Mitch Berkowitz the opportunity to consult with the town attorney on how to handle the situation. At one point Tuesday, the Select Board had considered closing the administrative offices, rescue and library because there was no money to run those departments.
Wednesday’s meeting lasted another three hours.
Berkowitz presented the attorney’s legal opinion that the town could continue to operate. The attorney would review the language of the articles and make sure another failed vote would allow those departments to continue functioning under last year’s budget numbers.
Questions arose over the logistics of a proposed public hearing where an indoor meeting was limited to 50 people or 100 for an outdoor meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several residents also told board members they would not feel safe attending a public meeting.
Last week’s referendum cost the town $1,000 and took nearly 24 hours, said Town Clerk Cindy Dunn, due to the 54 articles. She added the a new referendum with a total of 13 articles would likely be half that amount.
On Wednesday, the Select Board made final adjustments to tentative numbers they approved Tuesday on the 10 failed articles.
Rescue Chief Chip Richardson recommended cutting budgeted fuel by $3,725 to reflect the lower price for diesel fuel, making the budget request $273,280, which is lower than the Budget Committee’s original recommendation. Richardson also said that in light of the financial crunch felt by many due to the pandemic, the department would not seek funds for the used ambulance and the two self-loading stretchers.
The rescue budget failed by seven votes, 136-143, at last week’s referendum, while the two capital purchases were defeated by 34 votes and 57 votes, respectively.
The budget for administration was cut by eliminating raises for the Select Board and salary adjustments for office staff. Another $3,000 was cut from the budget, which was earmarked for preserving historical records. Catevenis said that cost could be put off for a year. The new budget figure is $248,075, a reduction of nearly $20,000 from the original proposal.
The article covering the cost for administration failed last week, 115-172.
Similar cuts in salary adjustments and cutting funds for a new computer lowered the library account to $47,100 from $50,670.
A member of the Old Church on the Hill Committee, said her group could exist for the next year on $2,000, which includes $1,500 to spend its grant money plus $500 to cover insurance. To cover electrical and groundskeeping, Dunn came up with a figure of $2,395
The historic structure, built in 1831-32, is the former Union Church at 77 High St.
Berkowitz and the Select Board said equipment for plowing the streets and the sidewalk was needed for public safety this winter. The board kept the $180,000 loan for a plow truck, but changed the request from one new truck to one, two or even three used trucks, depending on what the town manager finds is available. To cover the cost of a sidewalk machine, the board is proposing spending up to $6,500 to lease the equipment. Voters were originally asked to raise $12,000 to purchase a machine.
Selectmen will ask voters to appropriate $5,676 to cover engineering services owed for the salt and sand stabilization project.
At the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting, the board reelected Brooks as chairwoman and Coffman as vice chairwoman.
Committee assignments included Cameron Hinkley, one year on the Budget Committee; Lawrence Gordon, three years as the Hartford representative on the Library Committee; Nathan Fish, one year on the Recreation Committee; and Jerald Wiley, three years on the Road Committee.
The board voted 2-1 to hold future meetings in person instead of via Zoom starting later this month. Coffman opposed the motion.
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