MECHANIC FALLS — The Town Council on Wednesday confirmed a phone vote taken to adjust the property tax rate to reflect the amount of overlay the council wanted built into the budget.
The new, and now official, tax rate for the 2015-16 fiscal year stands at $21.40 per $1,000 of property valuation, 5 cents lower than what had been approved at the Aug. 3 meeting.
The move means taxes on a property assessed at $100,000 will be $20 more than they were for the 2014-15 fiscal year when the tax rate stood at $21.20.
In other business:
* The council agreed to hold public hearings at its Oct. 5 meeting to gather citizen comments of two proposed ordinances. One concerns mass gatherings and the other would prohibit jumping from bridges in town.
The Planning Board has been working on a mass-gathering ordinance primarily in response to Harvest Hill Farm’s move this past summer to hold concerts on its property.
At the time, town officials discovered the existing ordinance failed to adequately address community concerns.
Town Manager John Hawley said that this summer Police Chief Jeffrey Goss discovered that the town doesn’t have an ordinance to ban jumping off bridges.
“There is no pedestrian pathway on the Route 11 bridge,” Hawley said. “Kids running in and out of traffic had some motorists quite concerned.”
Goss, Hawley said, collected several model ordinances and has worked from them to prepare one that fits the town’s needs.
* Hawley reported that the summer road projects are progressing well.
Hawley credited town workers from Public Works, the Water Department and the Sewer District for doing “a remarkable job of reconstructing Third Avenue,” and now all that remains to be done is the paving, which must wait for Central Maine Power to move one of its poles.
Lane Road, Hawley said, was closed to through traffic as of Monday, Sept. 8, and will likely remain closed until at least Sept. 15.
Hawley noted that contractor Josh Pratt encountered some rocks the size of an office desk that he had not anticipated finding at the work site.
The decision had been made, Hawley said, to break up the rocks in place and use them for riprap. This will add a bit to costs, he said.
The paving program, scheduled to address Elm, Water, Winter and Mitchell streets as well as Saunders Road, began last week and should be completed within the next few weeks.
* The council voted to establish a town manager search committee, looking to find a replacement for Hawley, who resigned a week ago and whose last day is scheduled for Oct. 30. The committee will consist of all five council members plus Public Works Director Scott Penney, Police Chief Jeffrey Goss and Town Clerk Shirley Marquis.
The position has been advertised, with resumes due by Sept. 18.
* The council accepted the resignations of Planning Board member Keith Morse and Budget Committee member Mike Needham. Melanie Judd was appointed to the Budget Committee.
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