Alna selectmen have lined up a moderator for the Monday, March 5 public hearing on the Friday, March 23 referendum to alter taxpayer-funded school choice. Selectmen told a standing room only audience of residents and reporters in the town office Jan. 31, rules did not require a moderator, but the board wanted one to avoid the level of argument reached in other discussions over the proposed change.

“We don’t want this pandemonium,” First Selectman David Abbott said after several minutes of exchanges between board members and residents, mostly during a public comment period. “Everybody’s talking at once and no one’s listening.”

The hearing starts at 6 p.m. at the fire station, picked for its bigger space. Carl Pease, recent years’ annual town meeting moderator, will moderate, selectmen said.

Some attendees to the selectmen’s meeting stood listening from adjoining rooms. The latest talks mostly involved resident Cathy Jones’ questions and comments over the proposed change, including her take on selectmen’s handling of issues linked to school choice. Selectmen refuted Jones’s description.

She said their statistics and arguments supporting a change have been inadequate, fear-mongering and geared toward creating a divisive, us versus them outlook on new residents and residents concerned about the proposal to bar public funding of private school tuition for children who become Alna residents after next June 30. “I don’t feel like this is a good thing for this town,” Jones said. The referendum, stemming from resident Ralph Hilton’s petition, would keep it for those already in town; children who become residents July 1 or later could attend private schools at their families’ expense, Hilton and selectmen have said.

“I think what Ralph has proposed is a fair compromise,” between taxpayers’ and parents’ needs, Third Selectman Doug Baston told Jones. They have put forth the information they gathered from the Maine Department of Education and Alna’s school district, Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12, and have not been trying to divide the town, board members said.

The town has 350 taxpayers to cover expenses, Second Selectman Melissa Spinney said. To support the numbers of incoming students the board is anticipating if no change is made, the town would have to become a commercial area, Spinney said, adding: “A lot of people in town don’t want (that).”

Jones asked about making a Powerpoint or other presentation at the hearing. Selectmen suggested she prepare a handout to distribute. They said they will work with Jones on a means for her to address attendees.

Resident Aaron Robinson had advice for the board on the moderator. “It needs to be someone who can keep it from escalating, (or) it will get to that level very quickly,” he said. Selectmen voiced confidence in Pease.

Earlier in the meeting, the board reviewed with Judith Fossel her Freedom of Access (FOA) requests for records including ones involving school choice. Fossel had also asked what statutes and regulations govern Alna. Baston told her it was a legal question, not an FOA one. “Google it up.”

At one point in the discussion, Fossel said the board was violating requirements. “So sue us,” Baston said. The board and Fossel have argued off and on the last year and a half over school choice and the board’s contention her online rental ads have encouraged people to come to Alna for it. Fossel has rejected the board’s claims.

Also Jan. 31, Alna’s alewives harvester David Sutter of Wiscasset asked selectmen to extend his latest three-year contract by two years. Board members said they have the authority and were not opposed; at Baston’s suggestion, the board decided to take up  the request at their next meeting Feb. 14. That way, they can let the public know it’s on the agenda, Baston said. Abbott said he had heard from one person interested in seeking the contract if it went out to bid. Abbott added, he would just as soon keep Sutter doing the harvesting. Sutter has done it for three decades.

He said a longer contract might give him “more of a bargaining chip” with the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Last year, Sutter and the town questioned limits placed on Sutter’s harvesting methods.

The board took LCTV up on its offer to record the annual town meeting, Saturday, March 24. LCTV also asked if the town wants any other meetings recorded, selectmen said. The board decided to request the station tape the referendum hearing.