Isle au Haut’s annual town meeting was held March 25 in Revere Memorial Hall with 43 people attending.
Elected moderator Ted Hoskins and re-elected town clerk Sue MacDonald kept the pace swift and efficient, covering 73 articles in less than four and a half hours.
In a close race for first selectman, Peter Burke won the seat over Mathew Skolnikoff with 23 of the 40 votes cast. He will replace David Quinby who has held the seat for the past year.
Bill Clark and Jason Barter ran unopposed for re-election to their seats as second and third selectman, respectively.
Kelly Hawkes, Arlena Tully and Theresa Cousins will act as Tax Assessors; Sue MacDonald was renominated as Tax collector, while Benjamin MacDonald will again act as Treasurer.
Sue and Ben MacDonald will also stay on as members of the School Board, welcoming new members Kathie Fiveash and Diane Barter. Sue will continue to act as Chair.
Planning Board members up for re-election were Arlena Tully, Albert Gordon, and Patrick Tully as an Associate Member. All ran unopposed and will fill five-year seats; George Lamson will fill the vacant three-year Associate Member seat open since 2000.
Lisa Turner was voted to stay on as Chair of the Lighthouse Committee; Robert Turner, Sr., was re-elected to a three-year seat. New members to the committee this year are Andrew Rocher, filling a four-year term and Jeff Burke filling the five-year alternate seat.
Seats sought and won by unopposed incumbents were Gregory Runge, Animal Control Officer; George Lamson, Fire Chief; and Bill Stevens as Road Commissioner.
The town selectmen will remain as Overseers of the Poor, Sealer of Weights and Measures, and Surveyors of Wood and Lumber.
This year marks the last mortgage payment toward Colwell Ramp, the new access ramp property located in Stonington. Special thanks went to Bill Stevens for his work seeing the project come to fruition. Bill will stay on the ramp committee in a one-year capacity joining Jeff Burke (three-year seat) and Peter Burke as representative for the Board of Selectmen. Future issues and concerns are raising money to rehabilitate the existing wharf and onsite buildings and to address the lack of parking and public toilets.
Warren Renquist, filling in for Superintendent Robert Webster, presented the Education Report. He cited Judy Jipson and Lisa Turner’s hard work over the past year and highlighted the long-range concerns stemming from population decline and rising health care costs. Following the report, residents approved the recommended $155,202 school budget for fiscal year 2002-2003.
As selectmen had hoped, a good discussion took place regarding junk cars. One possibility is implementing a deposit system similar to the one on Matinicus, where a person pays a fee to bring a car on island refundable only when the car permanently leaves. This discussion went on a length before being tabled.
Of major concern was Article 73 regarding the Town’s proposed adoption of a Shellfish Conservation Ordinance. Ted Hoskins eloquently read the detailed seven-page suggested ordinance supplied to the town by the state Department of Marine Resources. Concern was raised over whether a “yes” vote at the meeting meant the town was agreeing to the lengthy ordinance.
It was explained that a “yes” vote would permit the ad-hoc clam committee to “tweak” the ordinance and return a revised plan to the town for consensus. Only with future town approval would any ordinance be submitted to Department of Marine Resources. Currently the island has no ordinance regulating the flats, leaving them vulnerable to outside diggers, themselves displaced due to the new ordinances in place on Stonington-Deer Isle. The article passed with 17 in favor of initiatory action with the state, 5 opposed.