Minutes

Town of Westmore Annual Meeting

March 4, 2008

The legal voters of the Town of Westmore met at the Fellowship Hall in said town on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 10 o’clock a.m. to transact the following business.

Greg Gallagher called the meeting to order.

The town stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Article 1. To elect a Moderator for the ensuing year. Paul Moffat nominated Vincent Dotoli , seconded by Bobby Butler.

Anne Alexander moved to cease nominations and have the Clerk cast one vote for Vincent Dotoli, seconded by Gerald Saindon. Motion passed and Vincent Dotoli was elected Moderator for one year.

The Moderator asked for a moment of silence in remembrance of Earl Perkins, Lucinda Feerick, Janice Rash, Paul Pearo, Norine Stevens, Dorothy Sicard and Janet Page.

Gail Brown presented a gift to Arthur French for his 8 years as Lister.

Vince Dotoli then presented the Westmore Fire & Rescue squad with a plaque for appreciation for all that they do for the Town.

John Alexander also presented a plaque to Chief Kimball Johnson for all of his time and service to Westmore.

Next Bill Johnson, our local legislature, spoke about the bills at the Statehouse.

Article 2. Shall the Town accept the Town Report as printed? Gerald Saindon moved and Bob Cummings seconded to pass over Article 2 and vote on each Article. Motion passed.

                              At this time Robert Cummings asked if he could introduce himself which he did.

Article 4. In what manner shall taxes be collected and dates payable.

Louisa Dotoli moved and Tony Strange seconded to set Oct 20, 2008 at 4 PM as the date for taxes to be due at the Municipal Office. Greg added that postmarks would not count. Motion passed.

Article 5. Shall the Town have the Selectmen set the Tax Rate after the 2008 Grand List has been completed. Kimball Johnson so moved and Gerald Saindon seconded it and it passed on a voice vote.

Article 6. Shall the Town vote the carryovers back into funds voted in the following Articles. After discussion of various line item carryover amounts and the use of those amounts in addition to the amount requested, Bobby Butler moved and Mike Branon seconded to pass over this request and add the carryover amounts to each request. Motion passed.

Article 7. Shall the Town appropriate $63000.00 for Town Office Salaries / Expenses. Mike Branon moved and Gerald Saindon seconded to appropriate the amount of $63,000 and approve the carryover of $14,200.50 for Town Office salaries/expenses. The motion passed.

Article 8. Shall the Town pay the Town Treasurer $6,782.00 in lieu of fees. Nancy Mallary so moved and Gerald Saindon seconded it. Motion passed.

Article 9. Shall the Town appropriate $6,700 for Selectboard Salaries / SS/Med/Expenses. Gerald so moved and Paul Moffat seconded to appropriate the $6,700 and approve the use of last year’s carryover of $675.03. Motion passed.

Paul Moffat moved and Peter Berteletti seconded to include the carryover amounts on pages 9 & 10 on the following requests. Motion passed.

Article 10. Shall the Town appropriate $600 for the Selectboard assistance. Nancy Mallary moved Article 10 with the inclusion of the $2,974.91 carryover, seconded by Paul Moffat. Motion passed.

Article 11. Shall the Town appropriate $27,800 for Lister’s Salaries/expenses. Gerald so moved and Ruth Gjessing seconded it. After discussion if this amount was enough for all of the Listers, Nancy moved Seconded by Peter Berteletti to amend the motion to $30,000. The amendment passed and the motion passed.

Deputy Corey Bingham was present to answer question about the Sheriff’s request. The Moderator moved this question ahead so he could get done before the lunch break.

Article 18. Shall the Town appropriate $7,351 for Police and Security. Randy so moved and Kimball seconded including the $3,963.18 carryover. Randi asked that since traffic is such a problem on RT 5A, why wasn’t the full amount spent last year. The deputy did not know about that. It was suggested that it could be because the County is on a different fiscal year that the Town. Motion passed.

The Moderator said it was time for the Lunch Break.

LUNCH BREAK

The Moderator called the Meeting back to order at 12:55.

Moderator Dotoli gave a sincere "thank you to the members of the Ladies’ Aid who put on the potluck lunch. The audience followed with a round of applause.

Article 12. Shall the town appropriate $2000 for Auditors’ Salaries/Consultant/Expenses. Randi moved and Paul seconded to appropriate $2,000 along with the $2,216.96 carryover for the Auditors. Motion passed.

Article 13. Shall the Town appropriate $72,050.28 for General Funds. Peter Berteletti so moved and Gerald seconded it along with the $5,186.47 carryover. The motion passed.

Article 14. Shall the Town appropriate $45,630 for the Transfer Station. Gerald made the motion and Mike Branon seconded it along with the $12,299.78 carryover. Motion passed.

Article 15. Shall the Town appropriate $26,000.00 for Trash and Recycling Pickup. Nancy made the motion and Gerald seconded it along with the $22.13 carryover. Mike Branon said that Jim Morin does an outstanding job and thanked the board for keeping him. Motion passed.

Article 16. Shall the Town appropriate $10,000.00 for the Milfoil control project. Gerald so moved and Bob Decker seconded it along with the $29,803.58 carryover. Motion passed.

Article 17. Shall the Town appropriate the sum of $18,000.00 for Municipal Buildings Maintenance & Repairs. David explained that this fund was for all Town buildings and that the garage roof was in need of repairs. Bob Cummings added that the Municipal Building needed some repairs that were not done at the original rehab. Nancy moved and Gerald seconded to vote $35,000 for the Building maintenance and reduce Article # 32 by $17,000 if this Article passes. Motion passed.

[Article 18 previously voted]

Article 19. Shall the Town appropriate $25,000.00 for the Equipment Purchasing Fund. Gerald so moved and Roy Perkins seconded the Article with $78,662.57 of carryover funds included. After a brief discussion, the Motion passed.

Article 20. Shall the town appropriate $300 for 911 work. Gerald so moved and Ron Holmes seconded with the $713.70 carryover included. Motion passed.

Article 21. Shall the Town appropriate $2,000 for reappraisal and Mapping for the year 2008. Gerald so moved and Tony Strange seconded. Motion passed.

Article 22. Shall the town appropriate $600.00 for Emergency Generators. Gerald so moved and Anne Alexander seconded. After discussion, it was proposed that this money be taken out of Article 17, Building Maintenance. Motion did not pass.

Article 23. Shall the Town appropriate $20,000.00 for Westmore Fireman’s Association. Randi so moved and Mary Smith seconded it.

John Alexander moved and Jeremy LeBlanc seconded to amend the motion by $2500 in order to get a matching grant for personnel stipends. The motion passed with the amendment.

Article 24. Shall the Town appropriate $144,642.57 for Town Highway Systems. Gerald Saindon so moved and Mike Branon seconded with $7,169.43 carryover included. Motion passed.

Article 25. Shall the Town appropriate $57,000.00 for paving projects. Gerald Saindon so moved and Ron Holmes seconded it. Motion passed.

Article 26. Shall the Town appropriate $50,000.00 for stockpiling Gravel. Gerald so moved and Eric Swanson seconded. After discussion, Ron Holmes moved and Eric seconded to amend the amount to $62,500.Motion passed as amended.

Article 27. The Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Adjustment request the Town to consider for both boards, the sum of $6000 to meet anticipated expenses. Paul Moffat so moved and Gerald seconded. Motion passed.

Article 28. The Westmore Cemetery Committee is requesting that the Town of Westmore appropriate $2,000.00 for the cemetery mowing and maintenance. Gerald so moved and Beverly Cummings seconded it including a carryover of $4,362.43. The motion passed.

Article 29. Shall the Town vote to authorize an appraised value exemption of $20,000. for disabled veterans. Tony Strange so moved and Gerald seconded. Gail Brown said that the state has now allowed up to $40,000 a piece now. Mike Branon moved to amend the article to $30,000 with Peter Berteletti seconding. Motion passed as amended.

Article 30. Shall the Town authorize the Selectboard to use unused General Funds to cover 2007 deficit funds. Nancy Mallary moved and Randi seconded. After some discussion, the Motion passed.

Article 31. Shall the Town authorize the Selectboard to borrow if needed for current expenses. Gerald so moved and Mike Branon seconded. Motion passed.

Randi so moved and Tony Strange seconded. Nancy expressed her concern about not having enough money left to pay Town liabilities.

Motion passed. Nancy Nay.

Article 33. Shall the Town vote to use up to $100,000.00 of unreserved General Funds to add to the Equipment Fund for long term maintenance/replacement of Municipal Equipment. Gerald so moved and Paul Moffat seconded. David said he would like to see some of these funds used to improve the Municipal parking lot as per a VLCT safety inspection reported.

Motion passed.

Article 33. Shall the Town accept Articles 35 thru 53 as printed, totaling $7,131. If not to vote each Article separately. After discussion of some Articles being too high or too low, the Motion passed.

Article 54. To do and transact any other business that may legally come before said meeting.

Louisa Dotoli announced that there would be a Public Hearing to discuss the Planning Commission’s proposed by-law changes.

It is tentatively set for Aril 17^th.

Mary Lou Ross asked the Town to plow small Class 4 Roads such as hers for people with disabilities. John asked her to present that request to the Selectboard.

Kathy Holmes asked for an update on the "Anti-Nudity Ordinance". Tony Strange said he has been involved in a movement to ban nudity at the South Beach. He referred to Selectboard Minutes in October which stated that the Forrest and Parks Commissioner said the State would enforce a Town ordinance on State land. He has a petition with 30 signatures supporting such a ban. He also said the Westmore Church Deacons and the Westmore Association support this.

John Alexander stated there is no State Law banning nudity. He also wondered if the State had funding issues if they would actually do any enforcement. If a Town Ordinance was challenged it could cost the Town a lot of Money to defend. The Town will need to have Public Hearings and the Selectboard will then decide what to do.

Article 55. To Adjourn. Peter Berteletti moved to adjourn seconded by Paul Moffat. The motion passed on voice vote.

The meeting ended at 4:07 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Greg Gallagher

By Australian Ballot, the Waste Management vote: 91 YES 1 NO