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03/28/2017 12:00 AMFor the second year in a row, the Board of Selectmen decided to hold the annual budget vote at a Town Meeting rather than in a town-wide referendum.
Prior to the selectmen’s vote, First Selectman Noel Bishop and Selectman John Hall mentioned complaints they had heard about the May 2016 Town Meeting vote on the budget. Hall in particular shared residents’ concerns that he hoped would be addressed and fixed in this year’s Town Meeting budget vote.
One complaint both Bishop and Hall heard was that the multi-purpose room where the May 2016 Town Meeting was held was too small. Town electors who arrived late had to stand, and poll workers and the stations they manned became too crowded—the voting process was perceived by voters to take a long time.
To address the overcrowding issue, Bishop announced that the town would hold the May 2017 budget meeting and vote at Westbrook High School. The tentative date the BOS set for the vote was Monday, May 1, at 7 p.m.
Hall also said he had heard from those at last year’s meeting that the budget presentations went on too long; some electors left before they could vote. In response, Finance Director Donna Castracane committed to keep her presentation to 15 minutes and she said that Superintendent of Schools Pat Ciccone’s recent budget presentation to the Board of Finance was of similar length.
If each budget presentation were kept to no more than 15 minutes, the voting process could then begin by 7:30 p.m.
Hall asked Registrar of Voters Nancy Moore to investigate whether there were any options for streamlining or speeding up the Town Meeting vote process. She said she would discuss this issue with Town Attorney Michael Wells and report back with his recommendations.
Other BOS Actions
At the March 21 meeting, the BOS also approved the final modified building fee schedule that was to be acted upon on March 27 at the Town Meeting (after press time).
Town Building Official David Maiden described the main fee changes and the reasons they are proposed to the selectmen last week.
“We are in the process of implementing new [permitting] software with a public portal. In doing so, we had to simplify our permit fees and add some not-to-exceed numbers,” said Maiden.
Maiden explained that other nearby towns set not-to-exceed limits for projects of $5 million or more so this change would be in keeping with those Towns.
For the Fire Marshal Plan Review/Inspection fee for commercial projects, Maiden proposed the fee be set at $8.00 for every $1,000 in construction value and capped at $8,000.
Similarly, the building permit fee would be $35 for the first $1,000 in value, and $15 per every $1,000 in value above that, but only for the first $5 million in construction value. Projects in excess of $5 million will pay 50 percent of this fee for the remaining value of construction.
Also changing is the way the department will assess fees for performing building inspections. The fee for any inspection in the new schedule will be set at $20. A typical project then might have a $20 fee for a building inspection, a $20 fee for an electrical inspection, and a $20 fee for a plumbing inspection as well as others, but the fee for each inspection type would be the same.
The final change was to reduce the solar panel installation inspection and evaluation fee at $100. It was previously set at $200.