Islesboro held its annual town meeting on April 24 at the Kinnicutt Center for the purpose of considering 39 Articles. Refreshments for both breakfast and lunch were provided as a fund-raiser for the Islesboro Central School senior class. Over 150 persons attended.
The meeting was called to order at around 9 a.m., and the Rev. Ed Bacon was elected moderator. In honor of the 100th anniversary of the Islesboro Library, Sept. 12, 2002 was proclaimed Alice L. Pendleton Library Day. In Article 2, Grayson Hartley was re-elected and Andrew Coombs was elected to serve three-year terms as selectmen, and Julie Reidy & Catherine Dove Adams were elected to serve as school board members for three-year terms.
Articles 3-15 were related to appropriations for the town budget, and questions were directed to the current selectmen. Article 3 (general administration), Article 5 (health and welfare) and Articles 7-15 (public works, waste removal, recreation, social services, unclassified, debt services, capital reserve, and contingent funds, respectively) were all accepted without much comment.
However, Article 4 (public safety) provided some interesting discussion involving the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department use of the current Islesboro police cruiser. Since the new budget included the purchase of a new cruiser, there was some concern over possible “misuse and abuse” of the new vehicle. Waldo County provides contracted officer coverage for the summer months on the island. In the end, the article was passed with some dissent.
Of still more interest was Article 6 (snow removal). In many small towns, snow removal becomes a difficult issue to resolve, and Islesboro is no exception. The debate centered on whether to contract services out for five years to A.C. Snow, a mainland contractor, for an annual fee of $142,000, or to create a Public Works Department on the island to handle snow removal. The arguments for both sides were persuasive, and the vote was indicative of the residents’ dilemma: 73 against, 59 for contracted services. Because the Article was defeated, another town meeting will need to be established for a future vote on the issue.
The total recommended budget approved for the Town of Islesboro services was $1.1 million.
Next came the school board and its proposed Articles. Denis Howard, Superintendent, started by honoring Islesboro’s Radio Shack Teacher-of-the-Year, Tom Tutor, and then made some introductory remarks. Immediately, there was heated discussion involving the size of the school budget – mostly involving Article 18 (leadership costs). Several questioned the “out-of-control” cost of the school administration budget, and recommended the consolidation of positions to substantially reduce this part of the budget. In the end, the article was amended, reduced by about $2,000, and accepted by only a limited majority vote.
Article 16 (K-12 Instruction), Article 17 and Articles 19-24 were accepted with little discussion or some small amending. Article 25 was recommended for tabling, due to a lack of specificity, and was unanimously defeated.
In the end, the School budget was approved at over $1.2 million, an increase of about 4 percent.
The issue of the day was Article 28.
This article, on the surface, dealt with a seemingly innocuous question, the discontinuance of 300 feet along the end of County Road. However, most of Islesboro’s residents had waited all day for this discussion and spoke passionately for its defeat. The landowner’s lawyer argued that its passage would in no way affect people’s enjoyment of this area. Few were persuaded by his optimism.
Discussion of Article 28 became an emotional debate over “loss of public access” versus “the rights of property owners” along the coast of Maine. One Islesboro resident best summed up the discussion when he said, “We’re not willing to give up [public] access, anywhere, anymore!”
The outcome was never in doubt: overwhelming defeat.
The final Articles, 29-39, were passed very quickly as the meeting headed for the six-hour mark. Rev. Bacon adjourned the proceedings at about 3 p.m. with an “all in favor of adjourning – go home!”