MECHANIC FALLS — Retired teacher Cynthia Larrabee was unanimously selected Monday night to serve the rest of the year as the fifth town councilor.
Larrabee, who taught fifth grade at Elm Street School, submitted an application May 13, saying she was willing to serve in any capacity on any town committee that needed help. She was appointed to the Budget Committee on June 24.
During the same meeting, the council failed on three consecutive 2-2 tie votes to name a successor to John Emery’s seat.
Emery had been councilor for two years before succumbing to an illness this spring.
Councilor Rose Aikman said she contacted Larrabee afterward and asked if she would be interested in applying for councilor.
Larrabee, in her statement to the council Monday night, said she thought long and hard before deciding whether it was something she could undertake. She underscored her remarks in her application by stating she is “willing to listen to both sides of situations,” as well as citing her 45 years of experience in education as an asset and a skill.
The council also reconsidered the 2-2 tie vote last week that denied a public hearing on a proposed six-month moratorium on approving further commercial alternative energy facilities.
The council voted 5-0 in favor of holding the public hearing at its Aug. 2 meeting.
Councilors requested Code Enforcement Officer Alan Plummer ask Planning Board members to attend.
Approvals of two solar farms impacting large tracts of land in town prompted the board to request the moratorium. The purpose was to give the town time write an ordinance to control siting, installation and operation of such facilities.
In other matters, interim Town Manager Mitch Berkowitz said total expenditures were down by 5% while revenue was 8% above projections this past fiscal year.
He said the town will receive a total $314,600 in two equal installments in the next two years from the American Rescue Plan passed in Congress earlier this year. But Berkowitz added that the criteria on where and how the money should be spent is difficult to comprehend and the town should hold off until more specifics are available.
Berkowitz also said the committee appointed to search for a town manager has whittled the list of applicants from nine to four. It will now begin the interview process.
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