Westport Island’s town meetings are noted for being, crowded, lengthy, heated and sometimes rowdy. This year: it lasted only about two hours, there were no heated discussions, no one became rowdy and there was a place for everyone to be seated.

About 50 voters attended the annual town meeting and approved all the articles on the warrant with an amendment to one article – raising funds to upgrade the lighting at the historic town hall.

The article originally called for $4,500 from taxes to upgrade the lighting. Voters approved an amended article that raised $2,000 from taxes and authorized the Town Hall Committee to use $2,500 from their Capital Improvement Account.
Several residents spoke in favor of the article, expressing the need for the lighting to be upgraded. Town Clerk Pam Frenier and others said it was difficult to count ballots after an election because of poor lighting.

The committee currently has more than $8,000 in their Capital Improvement Account. Town Hall Committee Chairman Bill Cooney said that money was there for emergencies such as a need for new roof or other emergencies that could come up.
After a brief discussion, voters approved using funds from the Capital Improvement Account.

Later in the meeting, Moderator Dan Bradford misread an article number and was corrected by a resident. “It must be the poor lighting,” Bradford said.

Road Commissioner Garry Cromwell requested $100,000 for road and bridges repairs, which the selectmen also recommended; the Budget Committee recommended $85,000. The voters went along with the $100,000 appropriation.

The voters approved a 1.75 percent cost of living increase to town officers’ salaries. They also approved a $3,000 donation to the Wiscasset Ambulance Service and $4,308 for resident status at the Wiscasset Community Center.

Voters made no changes in the donation requests from service organizations. Westport Island resident Paul Bonyun made a plea to the voters to approve the requests because they are vital to the residents of the island. They approved a total of $9,317, a decrease from $17,325 last year. The reason for the decrease is the Wiscasset Library requested $5,153, down from $9,200 last year. Also, the Wiscasset Community Center donation of $4,000 was not included in the article, as it was last year.

Other appropriations include: $12,000 for Westport Fire Department for direct purchases; $27,201 for the first year’s payment on the town new fire truck; $50,000 for town road paving reserve account;$15,000 for a Maine certified assessor to update assessments factors based on current values and new construction; $20,000 to be set aside in a reserve account toward a revaluation in 2014-2015; $3,815 for boards and committees;$24,000 for the Municipal Landing loan payment; $31,483 for town office operations and maintenance of the town office building; $2,113 for capital equip-ment purchases of office equipment; $10,000 for the legal fund; and $71,064 for the Wiscasset transfer station.

The town adopted a new shoreland zoning ordinance and an amendment to the Budget Committee ordinance, which addresses the filling of vacant positions that may occur between elections.

“I have been a selectman for the past 17 con-secutive years of town meetings,” First Selectman George Richardson said before the motion to adjourn the meeting. “And a two-hour town meeting is just unheard of on Westport Island.”

Richardson commented on the courtesy of the participants. “We thank you all very much.”