In a split vote Jan. 29, Alna selectmen passed intact the $1,000 fine the planning board sought for a property owner who had a tree house near the Sheepscot River and someone staying in a cabin where no one was supposed to be living.

Lisa Packard has said she didn’t know about either restriction on her Dock Road property; she has cooperated with town officials and agreed to take down the tree house the carpenter at her cabin had been building. He has since left the cabin. Packard was not at Thursday’s meeting where selectmen agreed to the fine.

Second Selectman Jonathan Villeneuve dissented. He said the first $500, to cover the town’s estimated cost for dealing with the infractions, made a lot of sense. But the other, punitive $500 appeared to run counter to Alna’s handling of other property issues in town, he said.

It does not, planning board members said. Member Beth Whitney cited other property owners’ past fines higher and lower than the one being recommended that night. Whitney also noted that the state allows much higher fines than the proposed $1,000.

“We could have fined her between $100 and $2,500 per day. That’s ridiculous. Nobody even considered that. But $1,000 is really rather modest,” Whitney said

Going along with a suggestion from Packard and the planning board, selectmen decided that Packard can make arrangements with the town to work off the $500, punitive part of the fine.

Planning Board Chairman Doug Baston’s Jan. 28 letter to selectmen acknowledges townspeople’s mixed reaction to the panel’s recommended fine.

“The planning board is aware that there are those in the community that think our proposed resolution is too strong, and others who think that it is too weak. However it is important ... to recognize that our resolution was a product of a review of all the facts before us and two meetings of public discussion with (Packard) and amongst ourselves,” the letter states.

The letter goes on to note that the board studied state rules and precedents and consulted with Maine’s coordinator for shoreland zoning: “Our obligation was to evenhandedly and consistently enforce the ordinance, balanced with reasonableness, consideration of the magnitude of multiple violations, and with recognition that (Packard) had been cooperative with us,” Baston writes.

“We unanimously believe that our outcome meets those requirements.”

Third Selectman David Reingardt voted with First Selectman David Abbott in support of the fine, but called it stiff.

“I can believe people make mistakes not even realizing it,” Reingardt said. “This one we jumped on, (in) my opinion, severely.”

One raise sought for town meeting

Selectmen agreed to ask voters in March to raise the pay for town clerk-tax collector by five percent, to $25,900 a year.

“She saves my hide all the time, so I’m all for giving her a raise,” Abbott said about Amy Warner, who holds the combined positions. The raise was the sole one the board proposed for town meeting. Fire Chief Mike Trask said he was not seeking any raises in administration for the department.

More talks on Head Tide Dam committee

Any proposal regarding the town-owned Head Tide Dam would fail unless it is stakeholders’ shared vision, Atlantic Salmon Federation’s vice president of U.S. programs, Andrew Goode, told selectmen Thursday night.

“It’d be dead on arrival,” Goode said.

Goode and Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association’s executive director Steve Patton said those organizations would support the work of a committee the board has been mulling regarding the dam. At one point in Thursday’s talks, Villeneuve said it might be better for the committee to not be a town-appointed one. But after hearing from residents that the committee’s work could better inform the town about the dam and lead to outside funding for improvements, he said he could support creating the panel if it has a stated purpose.

“We can put some words together,” Reingardt said. The board planned to take the matter up again on Feb. 4.

Abbott continued to support starting the committee that he first suggested when Goode and Patton met with him.

“These guys want to spend some money on it. It’s an opportunity ... if we can get together and figure out something we want to do,” he said.