Alna elections on, town meeting tbd and town office closed to foot traffic
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Alna this week has gone from possibly moving the Saturday, March 21 town meeting to the fire station bay, to looking instead to a possible special town meeting to keep the money flowing. And Tuesday noon ended foot traffic at the town office, according to town emails.
The annual authority to pay workers, spend, borrow and more runs out at the end of the month, selectmen wrote Monday.
“We are working with the legal folks at the Maine Municipal Association to figure out how to postpone Town Meeting, and for how long to do so ... One possibility that we are looking at – but don't know if it is possible – would be to have a one-warrant article special meeting in the near future authorizing us to continue all articles from last year at last year's levels,” the email states.
A separate email announcement brought word the town office would be closed to foot traffic, “the length of time to be determined, starting Wednesday, March 18 ... Please try to conduct transactions such as motor vehicle re-registrations, fish and game licenses and so forth online if possible ... If you need assistance or cannot for some reason do your transaction online, please leave a message at 586-5313 and/or email us at alnaclerk@gmail.com and we will work with you to figure out a way to get it done.”
At press time, Town Clerk Liz Brown said there was no new word on town meeting. Elections will go on as scheduled Friday at the fire station, Brown said. Voting runs 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to the town report.
March 13, officials emailed about possibly holding the annual town meeting in the fire station’s truck bay, “with the doors open if the weather allows. If it is too cold, the larger space at least allows people to be seated further apart ...”
“None of us knows how this will all unfold, but we should all be grateful that here in rural Lincoln County we can navigate much of our life quite easily under the advised ‘social distancing’ that will soon become, at least for a while, the new normal,” selectmen’s March 13 email states.
For up-to-date word on Alna’s town meeting plans, go to wiscassetnewspaper.com
