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Wilton select board finalizes warrant for special town meeting

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WILTON – The Board of Selectpersons approved two Fire Department purchases, fine tuned the wording for the upcoming special town meeting warrant and approved a letter of intent for a new Community Development Block Grant at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Two new sets of turnout gear are being purchased by the Fire Department after getting approval from the board. Fire Chief Sonny Dunham reported shortages in gear for the 25 firefighters he has on his roster. The two new sets of turnout gear will be purchased from Bergeron Protective Clothing for $1,750 per set. Funds will be taken out of the Capital Account.

Dunham was also approved to purchase telescoping lights for the department’s squad truck. The capital account for equipment purchases is at a balance of $12,500 according to Town Manager Rhonda Irish, while the balance for the apparatus account is at $48,607.

After deciding at last week’s meeting to ask voters to weigh in on the proposed New England Clean Energy Connect, selectpersons adjusted the wording of the article to better reflect their stance.

“Both articles appear to be negative,” Selectman Keith Swett said.

The board voiced their support of the project back in 2017 via a letter to Central Maine Power, but have since discussed the matter in more detail and considered rescinding that support. A decision was made to let community members weigh in on their actions, by way of a special town meeting.

Following a discussion on the wording, the article will give voters the choice of affirming the former letter of support, rescinding the letter but remaining neutral, or rescinding the letter along with any support of the project. The special town meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 5 at 6 p.m. in the Cushing School Cafeteria.

Rocky Hill Landscaping was approved to submit a letter of intent to the town to apply for a Community Development Block Grant; the letter is due by Friday. If granted, a CDBG would award the business $340,000, with funds earmarked for 11 new employees. Half of those employees would need to fall into the low-income category.

Nomination papers are available on March 1 for three town positions. These include two seats on the Selectboard and one seat on the Regional School Unit 9 school board. They are due back on April 12.

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22 Comments

  1. Wilton resident’s chance to let CMP know what they think about bisecting Maine’s North Woods with a 300 foot wide corridor and 95 foot tall power lines to deliver power to Massachusetts. Think of leaving at least a small part of Maine relatively wild for your children.

  2. Pine tree, It isn’t bisecting the north woods, that would be where Obama’s Katahdin Woods and Waterways would be. The NECEC would be more south west of the north woods, just below Kibby mountain is the spot, and since there are already some useless windmills and a pole line that runs the wrong way in that spot, the area is of little consequence. Then the new line runs east until it meets an already existing line on rt 201. then it uses all existing pole lines that have been in use for the better part of 100 years all the way to Lewiston then south to MA.

  3. Hrtlss Bstrd, 40 miles of North Maine Woods unbroken by a paved road or power lines. Yes, it IS part of the North Maine Woods. “of little consequence?” Not to thousands of people fighting to keep this from happening. I grew up in a city where the one lot in my area that didn’t have a house on it was the “woods” I played in. When a house was finally put in, there were no more woods within a mile and a half of our house. I hope you really wouldn’t want to see all of Maine developed except for Baxter SP and Katahdin Woods.

  4. Hrtlss Bstrd,

    The area is of little consequence? Tell that to the Maine State Federation of Firefighters.
    They wrote Governor Mills to express concerns for fire and other emergency response capacities along the corridor and areas adjacent to it.
    Read it. That area could become a great consequence to our emergency personal.

  5. Terry, there will be a clear lane that compromises the pole line, if anything, it makes the area MORE accessible to fire fighting efforts should the need arise. There are logging roads all over the area from when they put in the Kibby mountain wind project, that nobody seemed to have a problem with TransCanada and Irving’s scraping the top off to make a wind farm. There are 6 logging operations in there now, Here, don’t take my word for it, go to Google Maps, type in 45 28’37″N 70 36’41″W this is where the new line is going be, follow it over to 201. it is nothing but scrub and open land, not woods, or forest.

  6. Folks,

    I hate to be the person to break your hearts, buttttt it may be a done deal. Our new governor just agreed to
    Allow this CMP corridor after CMP agreed to pay the state $250 million over 40 years. Just heard that on the
    News today. She also reversed the wind turbine policy put in place by Governor Lepage (he put a hold on all
    New wind turbine projects). Now we get the best of both worlds…lots of nice pretty power lines on BIG tall
    Poles and more mountains covered with wind turbines. Allllll that nice power moving south to our dear friends
    In Massachusetts. I have been reading alllllll the many comments on here and i agree with those folks against
    This project. Now i want you all to think about how this happened. Think back to November….who did you vote
    For??? Did you vote for the Democrats??? Did you forget about the 40 years of democrat controlled legislature
    And the huge spending and debts they created??? Did you forget that Baldacci and King (100% democrat) sold
    Their souls and our mountain tops for their own agenda and personal gain?? Now we have the Dems in 100%
    Complete control again….and our governor and legislature are on a HUGE spending spree!!!! Have you all been
    Paying attention!!!! I see and hear news reports of massive spending increases in every area of government.
    They are spending hundreds of millions of dollars more per year than the previous governor (i believe about
    $400 million per year for the next 2 year budget cycle). They are paying for it with VERY OPTIMISTIC revenue
    Projections. These are revenues that haven’t happened yet….just good ole government guess work. We all
    Know how that will turn out. Sooooo….anyone who voted for the Dems should not be complaining!!!! And we
    All need to get ready for new taxes and fees…they will be coming soon. By the way….does anyone believe that
    CMP will pay that $250 million during the next 40 years??? I knew that the Dems would roll over quickly for
    Some money on this CMP corridor, buttttt for God’s sake…they can’t even negotiate a good deal. They should
    Have got the money up front!!!!!

  7. Mike,
    It’s not a done deal. CMP still has a lot of opposition. Both legally and grassroots. Join us at the upcoming meetings in Farmington. We need your support.

  8. Terry, Yes, I Am, In the 120 years that CMP has had lines crisscrossing the state, there has NEVER been a fire started by a downed line on a pole line, because they cut the trees back far enough so they are not a cause for line breaks.

  9. What happened to the days when businesses were built instead of ‘granted’? Eventually Wilton should be flagged for over use, like the people with too many returns to Amazon. With countless job openings, especially for lower income, I can’t see the reason to create more.
    And as I’ve said right along Mike is right, Mills has sealed the fate of your north woods without even trying to negotiate a deal that will benefit us much. How do you like your new governor now?

  10. Understand it is difficult to handle the truth these days but this project and more slashing mountain tops is going to happen. Anyone read LD818? I’d attach the link but I’m one of worthless deplorables without a useless advanced college degree who is working a real job and do not have the time. But Check it out. Mfg jobs are toast. Wind power is a priority. The ‘commission ‘ can direct investor owned transmission and distribution utilities to increase capacities to ensure electric grid reliability (power lines). Oh and more tax payer subsidies to weatherise homes. And more natural gas through a pipe from mass that is already not large enough to meet current needs because maine gov lacked the courage to tell mass. Hey. If you want power, how bout you you help us out with that larger natgas line we have been asking about for years. Then at the end, after all the wind,transmission and home fixer upper stuff we get into all the climate action plan goobely guck which will eventually kill all manufacturing in maine. Isn’t it funny this is all well aligned with the green new deal. ‘What’s in your wallet’? Eventually it will be nothing. Even all the enviro progressive dems. Careful what you wish for

  11. From what I understand reading the Natural Resources Council of Maine website info, there are bills concerning the CMP Corridor in progress. That is a far cry from a “done deal.” I have not researched Gov. Mills position further myself, but find it difficult to believe that her pro-environmental, pro-nature stance would favor the CMP corridor.
    I am grateful that we have the chance to vote in Wilton on the town’s position. It is not too late. Let your government representatives hear from you too – that does more than writing in the Bulldog, as important as community conversation is.

  12. Believe it Nancy our new governor has been on the news the last day or so supporting the corridor because CMP has given some false hope they will pay $285 million over the next 40 years to help with buying heat pumps,electric car plug in stations, and subsidies for low income rate payers. So cmp will keep some of it so the low income folks won’t be paying what the rest of us do. I urge everyone to look up stop the corridor website and they will give contact info for the governor office to call and let her know Main DOESN’T WANT THIS !!!!!!!

  13. Nancy, Terry, Captain, Ned, others,

    I’m with you and agree that we need to speak up at the town meetings, buttttt here is what everyone needs to
    Think about. The Dems and their extremely progressive agenda are on a mission to save the planet, no matter
    How much it will cost the taxpayers. Our new governor may be a nice person but she will give in to the hard
    Left Dems because they never take NO as an answer. They know more than all of us. They are more educated
    And have higher IQs and they now control our state government. Look at the proposals coming out of Augusta
    Now….one Dem has a bill to spend $50 million on new infrastructure along the coastal areas of our southern
    Cities like Portland. This is supposed to prevent flooding when the oceans rise. That is $50 million of our tax
    Dollars to help rich cities like Portland. Where is our $50 million to rebuild all the crappy roads up here in the
    Woods. Notta!!! Look at our school budgets, up $1-2million every year for 8-9 years. Many people stood up at
    Town meetings and asked for just one year with no increase, including myself. We were called ignorant and
    Uneducated and all sorts of things and they ignored us. The Dems never listen to the other side….they just tell
    Us we don’t know what we are talking about, or we have no data to support our arguments. I supplied LOTS of
    Data and asked lots of questions, buttt i seldom got an answer. The Dems are going to sell out our great wild
    Northern forests for the sake of saving the planet. Our governor will let the hardliners have their way. If she
    Gets in their way…they will scream and shout and have temper tantrums like the stuff you see everyday on the
    National news channels. Look back at what they did to Susan Collins when she was the one last holdout vote
    For Judge Kavanaugh. That was INSANE!!! This is our new society. This is what happens when you raise the children in a world where nobody loses and everyone gets a trophy. Kids are allowed to raise hell in school
    And we give them a private ed tech for one on one attention. Any wonder that the college kids today are
    Spoiled brats who want everything their way!!! Get ready folks, we are going to have one heck of a battle ahead on this one. CMP has alot of money and they will bait the Dems with it and buy them out with offers like those already proposed. The Dems need the money to pay for allllllll their lofty plans.

    Anyhow, i will attend the meetings and see what happens.

  14. NW, nrcm is part of the hustle. Find one member who did not vote d. A d vote is a vote for wind power, power lines, reduction of industrial manufacturing, ruin of hundreds of acres of land in active agricultural use to solar glass just because they are ‘green’. Cmon it’s all about the money required to pay for individual subsidies. Who pays the CMP $MM’s when the state buys them out as proposed. If mass wants a power line, bury it and give maine natgas. Spend the persuasion monies on it.

  15. It is time to shut down Janet Mills and CMP. Both will ruin this State. Both have already started. I fish up in the Kibby area. The wind mills are worthless and ruin the landscape, and we subsidize them. They have cut huge swithback roads up the sides of mountains and swaths of land to get to the windmills…can you spell washout. Not to mention they rarely turn. So what do they generate for Maine? No money , that is for sure.
    $250 million over 40 years is nothing. We will be prostituting ourselves if we think that is a good deal for Maine.
    People pay millions of dollars a year to come fish our ponds, hunt in our woods, moose watch, raft, snowmobile, hike, and enjoy our wilderness. They will pay $0 to come see windmills, power lines, or solar panels. And the rest of it will be lost forever. Go to your town meeting and let your voice be heard. JUST SAY NO. NO MORE.

  16. Ned,

    You’re onto something here. I like that idea with the natural gas lines. Lets make CMP give us a right of way
    In that power line corridor and pay the costs to bury a natural gas line in it, all the way up thru Franklin
    County. Maybe we can negotiate some branch lines into the down town areas of many local towns along the
    Way. Now there’s an idea. Good job Ned!!!!! And while they have all that heavy equipment digging trenches
    They can bury the high voltage lines as well. Everyone is happy.???

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