With a full house on Saturday, June 16, Dresden annual town meeting voters passed the full warrant. The total appropriations requested were $872,301, an increase of $27,924.92. Robert Linet moderated.

The meeting moved quickly through elected officer salaries and general administration accounts. Then came Article 8, “To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Selectmen to appoint a Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 and to appoint any unfilled position in conjunction with the Dresden Fire Chief or act anything relative thereto.”

Following a great deal of discussion, the vote ran 15-15.

An addition was suggested: “The selectmen will take into consideration the recommendation of the Fire Association.” This amendment and the updated question  passed. Linet ruled the amendment could be made, as it was “not a substantive change.”

Article 12, to raise and appropriate $417,726 for highways, down $1,037, also raised a great deal of discussion,  led by resident Heather Beasley.

Beasley first discussed the snowplowing contract, namely how in a selectmen’s meeting it was mentioned that the contract could be extended for three years. She requested the article be amended to state “for the 2018-2019 year.” Administrative Assistant Michael Henderson said the warrant only covered the 2018-2019 fiscal year, and has nothing to do with the specific contract, making the wording unnecessary.

Beasley also took issue with the cost of sand. On the warrant, the cost was not to exceed $33,000. Beasley asked how much the sand the town was buying cost. Road Commissioner and Selectman Allan Moeller Sr. replied, around $11 a yard including all related costs such as trucking.

Beasley, who owns Ballard-Milligan Gravel Corp. on Cedar Grove Road, said that  was too high. She  suggested amending the article not exceed $25,000. The amendment was quickly seconded.  Moeller defended the numbers in the warrant. 

“I have worked my butt off for this town to get it cheaper. If the town (amends this), at the end of the meeting I’ll resign. And you can have this,” Moeller said. 

“Personally, I believe in the select board’s research into this,” resident Ryan LaRochelle said. “Perhaps in the future, Ms. Beasley’s company can put in a bid.”

“The warrant allows the town to spend up to these amounts,” resident Jeff Pierce stated. “They can spend less.”

The amendment was defeated, and the article passed with  a few “nays.”

Articles 24 through 27, all concerning recreational marijuana, were taken as a group. The wording  “to draft and enact an ordinance” was pared to only drafting them, so all  must be voted on at a town meeting. The amended articles passed.

The last article that had an issue was Article 35. “To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Selectmen to conduct negotiations with a property owner for the purchase of any property or parcel of land that the Selectmen, in their best judgement, determine that acquiring (it) would be in the best interest of the town.”

A suggestion was made to change “purchase” to “voluntary sale” as several residents were concerned “purchase” would give rise to the town being able to buy any property it wished and take away the rights of the landowners.

“This creates a situation where the whole town could say ‘Yes, we need this property’ and the owner would say ‘no’ and we could not do it,” Henderson said. “It would be a very rare situation, but it could happen.”

The amendment was defeated, and the article passed as written.

Before the meeting, Pierce had the honor of presenting this year’s “Spirit of America” award to Dresden Fire and Rescue, with a sentiment from the Maine House and Senate praising its work. Fire Chief Steve Lilly accepted the award.