In the only changes made during Mason’s Town Meeting Saturday, the 30 or so voters in attendance agreed to three additions to the budget, which was originally proposed at $2,160,849.
Voters agreed to a $6,500 increase for the purpose of designing and maintaining a new town website. The majority of the cost will be a one-time expense to design and launch the website, with a portion of the cost expected to be carried in the budget to maintain it.
Selectman Peter McGinnity explained that the new website would give department heads more freedom to update their individual pages.
Voters also approved a $1,100 expense to update the town’s email servers, maintenance and security protocols.
In the largest addition, voters also approved a $17,000 increase for an engineering study for the repair or replacement of the Jeds Lane bridge over Mason Brook.
Selectman Charlie Moser told the crowd that the bridge had been damaged by the running water, and has been shored up and stabilized with steel plates, but will eventually need a more permanent repair or to be replaced.
Voters agreed to all three amendments individually, and then to the adjusted $2,185,449 budget in a unanimous voice vote.
Voters approved all other monetary articles in unanimous votes.
The police department will be purchasing a new cruiser this year, using revolving funds from police details and capital reserve funds. About $25,000 of the purchase is from revolving funds, made up of fees collected from police details, $14,000 from the police cruiser capital reserve and $15,000 from the trade-in for the current cruiser.
In a separate article, voters also agreed to $8,442 to upgrade the police department’s communication system and replace the police antennae on the communications tower.
Repairs on Russell Road will continue after the crowd approved $50,000 for the repair and maintenance of the town’s paved road. Selectwoman Louise Lavoie said one of the priorities for the coming year would be the repaving of Russell Road, which was recently reclaimed and is currently a dirt road.
Resident John Lewicke said he’d prefer the funds go to putting down crushed rock on some of the town’s dirt roads, specifically Starch Mill Road, saying Russell Road was in good repair for a dirt road compared to others in town.
Bettie Goen, a resident of Russell Road, said she and her husband had bought their home decades ago on a tarred road.
“Never in my life did I think the solution [to road disrepair] would be to revert to dirt roads,” Goen said. She said the vehicles on the road still travel at high rates of speed and that it’s turned the neighborhood into a “dust bowl.”
Voters approved several articles putting away funds into reserve accounts for future purchases, including $30,000 for the future purchase of highway equipment, and $25,000 for a fire truck. Both votes were unanimous.
Voters agreed to allow the town to use $1,500 of the existing Forestry Maintenance fund to continue maintenance work on the town’s portion of the Rail Trail.
The only article which did not pass Saturday was the final article, brought by petition. The article would have instructed the Select Board to write a letter to state legislators, demanding a fair and transparent redistricting of political districts. Redistricting happens every ten years, after the federal census. The article called for a process that would redistrict “without political party influence.”
The article was the most divisive of the day, and the only one not to pass with a unanimous vote, but there was a clear “no” majority in the voice vote.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.