In a 12-5 vote Oct. 6, Alna voters set rules on addresses and road names, First Selectman Melissa Spinney said. Spinney said some speakers were concerned road names and addresses will change under the E-911 addressing ordinance; town officials have said the ordinance, based on a state model, applies only to new addresses, on new roads.

Some residents asked to amend the wording, but proposed ordinances can’t be amended during a town meeting, Spinney said. Selectmen will look at clarifying the ordinance and bringing it back to voters at the annual town meeting next March, Spinney said. 

Residents tweaked a proposed move into surplus for the $15,180 left from a project addressing erosion on North Old Sheepscot Road, Spinney said. Some of the road’s residents did not consider the project done, so $8,000 will stay in the fund for any further work and, when that is done, anything left will join the other $7,180 in surplus, she explained.

In another vote, the town clerk-tax collector’s pay rose from $18 an hour with a $25,500 cap, to $20 an hour with a $27,000 cap, and the deputy clerk-tax collector’s pay changed from $16 an hour with a $19,000 cap, to $17 an hour with a $17,500 cap.

Spinney said about 20 voters turned out for the special town meeting in the fire station’s bay, and followed the COVID-19 precautions the town announced in advance. “Everybody was great. They either stood or brought their own chairs, and stayed apart and wore masks.”

In a board meeting after the special town meeting, selectmen made Kristina Verney a Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit representative in the seat Ralph Hilton resigned from; signed the next year’s Wiscasset Transfer Station contract for $76,749.73; agreed to spend about $1,800 on a shed residents can take sand from for home use; and agreed to a snowplowing swap with Wiscasset along Route 218 and South Old Sheepscot Road to avoid turning trucks around in a driveway, Spinney said.

The annual town report has won Maine Municipal Association’s top honor for the town’s population category (500-999); according to MMA at memun.org, Alna took “supreme,” besting Carrabassett Valley’s “superior” showing and Bremen’s and Sebec’s tie for “excellence.”