WILTON – The Board of Selectpersons met for their first virtual conference Tuesday night; the meeting was live streamed on the town’s Facebook page, and will be conducted virtually with regular scheduling until further notice.
Town Manager Rhonda Irish said the most common question from residents has been how to register vehicles. Irish announced changes to town operations last week due to the Governor’s “Stay Healthy at Home” Order. For a detailed list of those changes, click here. Residents can re-register vehicles by email and mail. It can also be completed by going to the town’s website and completing the online form. For new vehicles contact the Town Office by calling 645-4961 or emailing clerk@wiltonmaine.org.
The Transfer Station will remain open, with limited vehicles allowed in at a time. Irish said a maximum of four vehicles at a time seemed to work well over the past weekend. Selectperson Tom Saviello suggested raising that number to six considering it is a busy time of year with people doing spring cleaning.
Recreation Department Director Franklin Donald provided the board with an update on operations, it was agreed unanimously to remain open as much as possible during this time. Donald said the department has seen some decline in funds with the cancellation of some of their programing. Spring sport signups are open online for the time being, without requiring payment in case the season is canceled. Donald said the beginning of June swim lessons is still up in the air; the program typically brings in $4,000 or $5,000 for the department. However, the costs of running the program, which usually runs to $8,000, would balance that out.
“The more people can get out to the parks and do things, the better,” he said. “The Recreation Committee feels strongly that we don’t want to restrict things, but just monitor closely.”
Two moratoriums that were in place will go to town meeting to be voted on next month; the Energy Transportation Conduit moratorium, which expired last month amidst cancelled meetings, will be left untouched and be sent to the town meeting as is.
“We met on March 5, and did all of our public hearings.At this point, that’s all packaged together to go to town meeting for a vote,” Code Enforcement Officer Charlie Lavin said.
A second moratorium that addresses marijuana licensing is still within the 180 day period and will be looking at a possible extension to reach the date of the town meeting at the next Selectboard meeting in two weeks.
The town will be looking into the possibility of establishing a Local Food and Community Self Governance ordinance, with more information to come. The ordinance, which has been adopted by several neighboring towns, essentially gives local farmers and food producers the right to govern themselves, and protects them from the government going too far on certain things, Saviello said.
“The farms have really been stepping up to help with the food supply, I don’t want to have something get put into place that has an effect on it,” Saviello said.
The Selectboard and Finance Board will meet virtually on April 20 and 22 to discuss the annual budget, with a final meeting on April 28. A final vote on the warrant will take place May 5. Irish said they are still hoping to get Town Reports out on the same schedule, and are currently on schedule to have the annual town meeting on June 15.
