SABATTUS — The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday to ban toll-booth fundraisers on public roads, at the suggestion of Police Chief Gary Baillargeon.
“I think they’re unsafe and I think the board should eliminate them totally,” Baillargeon said before the board voted. “If you want to allow them it really can’t be pick and choose, and if you are, there has to be guidelines rules and regulations.”
The board agreed with the chief’s recommendation to ban the fundraisers on public roads and spaces throughout town because of the safety concerns.
“We don’t have an ideal place in Sabattus where it’s slow enough and a straight road,” Baillargeon said.
The board said the policy change doesn’t ban the fundraisers on private property.
The board also held a public hearing Tuesday night about the discontinuance of an unused portion of Route 9 at the request of resident and business owner Pat Cyr.
Cyr requested the discontinuance in order to buy the plot of land, which is adjacent to his Sabattus Auto and Truck Sales.
“It’s not part of the Middle Road of now, but the old Middle Road,” Board of Selectmen Chairman Mark Duquette said.
Cyr requested the discontinuance from the state, which requires an official vote from the town of Sabattus to consider the road unused.
Another public hearing will be held Nov. 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Office for the abutters of the land to approve the discontinuance. If the request is approved at that hearing, a special town meeting will be held Dec. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the Town Office.
A minimum of 25 voters must be present for the meeting to begin. If the town approves the discontinuance, the state can sell the piece of land to Cyr.
In other business, resident Norm Laplante requested the board’s help to restart an official Sabattus Historical Society.
He said he discovered a lot of town documents and records were destroyed or lost when he was looking for them and he wanted to do what he could to find and save what’s left. “I don’t want to lose our town’s history,” Laplante said.
Selectman Guy Desjardins said Laplante had the board’s full support.
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