WILTON — The Select Board moved to send the Regional School Unit 9 2021-2022 budget to voters June 8. The board voted unanimously to sign the warrant during their meeting Tuesday, May 18.
The budget is $38.9 million, with an additional $477,406 for adult education in a separate article.
The district towns of Chesterville, Farmington, Industry, New Sharon, New Vineyard, Starks, Temple, Vienna, Weld and Wilton will be asked to raise $13.5 million as the local share “in accordance with the Regional School Unit’s cost sharing formula and state law.”
Town Manager Rhonda Irish said “new protocols” regarding face masks and social distancing at the town office and transfer station in Wilton will go into effect Monday, May 24. They come after the Center for Disease Control changed its COVID-19 guidelines changed to allow fully vaccinated individuals to “go without masks or physical distancing in most cases.”
“I’m looking at following exactly how the Maine-CDC guidance is … if a person is fully vaccinated they will not need to wear a mask to come into the town office,” Irish said in an interview. “And it is recommended that people who are not fully vaccinated wear face coverings. It’s a recommendation, not a requirement now.”
Irish said Wilton’s recreation department will also follow “any guidelines pertaining to recreation from the state recommendations.”
In light of these new protocols, the board is considering a return to in-person meetings.
Irish also announced that the town meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Monday, June 14, at Kineowatha Park in front of the recreation building.
In other business, the board discussed the cancellation of the 38th annual Wilton Blueberry Festival, which was announced on Thursday. The festival directors canceled due to concerns about their ability to “manage the restrictions (of CDC COVID-19 guidelines) within a public setting.”
Selectperson Tiffany Maiuri said she was “disappointed that we will not be able to have a blueberry festival this year” but emphasized she was not “second-guessing” the festival board’s decision.
In response, Selectperson Tom Saviello raised the idea that “there’s still some flexibility for us to have some kind of blueberry festival, if we so desire” depending on what happens this summer.
The cancellation by the board, Saviello said, “doesn’t stop the congregational church from doing their chicken feed and their blueberry cakes. It doesn’t stop a vendor from arranging with the town to come and set up. It doesn’t stop if by August we get told ‘we don’t need to worry about masks and gatherings,’ that if some of us want to organize a parade, we can do it.”
The Select Board also moved forward on action against a sign for One Call Contracting that violates Wilton’s zoning ordinance.
The board voted to have an attorney write a letter to Tim Amerson, who owns the property where the sign is erected, stating the fines he faces for not taking down the sign and the final date by which he must take the sign down, May 21. The sign violates the town’s zoning ordinance, which states signs must be located within 1,000 feet of the building where the business is located.
However the attorney told Irish the town cannot impose the fine themselves and instead must go to court and ask a judge to impose the fine, Irish said.
Selectperson David Leavitt suggested “it would behoove the town to fix the ordinance so we can levy fines when you violate town ordinances without the extra expense of going to court.”
The attorney suggested this should be fixed next year, Irish said.
Chairperson Keith Swett raised concerns about “the town paying the cost” of hiring an attorney and potentially going to court.
Ultimately, the vote was unanimous. It will take the attorney “an hour’s worth or less of time,” according to Irish.
The board also accepted a bid from Spencer Group Paving LLC to pave specific sidewalks and roads in town, which will be finalized after residents vote on the budget at the town meeting on June 14.
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