Tuesday - the 13th - Planning Board meeting @ 6:30pm at the Town Office. (This may be changed because of pending snow storm. Check with town office - 843-5233. Town Manager should be there if meeting still on schedule.)

Why people should attend: The Planning Board considers/recommends new Town Ordinances and changes to the existing ones. It also reviews all initial business purchase applications to see if they comply with the Ordinances. If you don't have a set of the Ordinances, you can (and should) get a copy from the Town Office. They're free. Do you know what defines a commercially zoned lot from an industrially zoned lot? Apparently neither does the owner of the vacant lot between the New Hope Hospice and the Weather Vane Company. He advertises his lot for sale as an industrial lot (in huge letters on an exceptionally tall sign) which it is not, BTW, as well as a commercial lot, which it is. A potential buyer (for industrial purposes - to put 300 (!) used/junked cars on it and then sell off the parts) - appeared before the Planning Board this past Sept./Nov. Because a few of the neighboring residents and the two businesses on opposite sides of the lot had been alerted, we had a turn-out and were prepared to speak up. Fortunately, Susan Shane, a great member of the Board - with detailed email notes from Board alternate, John Allen - explained very courteously to the potential buyer why he couldn't do what he wanted to do on that lot.

The buyer subsequently took his business idea to the Libby Auto business at the other end of town so not all was lost from his point of view, but the significant environmental issues regarding that particular lot (which is a watershed area) were brought up to not only the Planning Board but to the Selectmen, the Code Enforcement Officer (who was quite resistant to being brought into the discussion BTW), and the Town Manager as well.

Thursday - the 15th. The Final Review of the proposed school consolidation of SAD 63 with Brewer and Orrington - to become Regional School District (RSU) 15 before the town votes to accept or reject the proposed plan. This meeting begins at 6:30pm and will be held at the Eddington School on Main Road.

This meeting was scheduled for last week but needed to be rescheduled because of the snow storm. What is critical to understand - according to earlier information provided at a Selectmen's meeting - is that the proposed budget for the next three years will NOT result in any reduced costs (as the Governor promised) either for the school budget OR in local property taxes. In fact, the first year's budget will be nearly $3 Million dollars higher than the current year's budget. (See my Jan. 11 posting for more info. and related questions)

Tuesday - the 20th - Selectmen's meeting @ Town Office @ 6pm.

Of interest will be the School Board rep's report of her take on the Proposed RSU meeting of the 15th, the state of the current school budget (how much in the red thanks to slow/low/no funding this year from the state - see the Jan. 11 posting for more info.); what - if any action - has been taken regarding the vacant lot next to New Hope Hospice and its absent owner (see Planning Board info above);- and last, but not least, my repeated questions why the Government Access Channel (7 on Cable TV) doesn't list the Selectmen's agenda prior to (or the results of) it's monthly meeting. I have been raising this issue for over 18 months. My persistance in this matter hasn't accomplished much except to generate the Chairwoman's ire.

For a "government access channel", there is no reason why the Selectmen's agenda cannot be shown in advance for the townspeople to know what business is going to be conducted at the one and only official meeting each month. (There used to be two monthly meetings but, for some reason, it was reduced to one sometime this past fall. Could there be less business to be conducted? Is it to reduce heating costs in the building? Has the town become so self-governing we need the Selectmen less? They used to spend two hours a month officially on town business - one hour per meeting. Now they "officially" conduct one meeting a month - and are still hell bent for leather to get out in one hour.)

Since the town employee who is listed on Channel 7 as the Town's Treasurer is the same person responsible for preparing the slides for the channel - but is not the person who staffs the Selectment's meeting, it might be difficult for her to glean the necessary info to post any results unless she listens to the taped recording of the meeting. However, since the agenda should be prepared at least days in advance, it shouldn't be difficult to post it on the channel.

Maybe the person who staffs the Selectmen's meetings could/should be taught how to make the slides and then she, too, could participate - maybe create slides on what the Selectmen actually did/decided on agenda issues during the meeting...especially on BUDGET issues. After all - IT IS THE PEOPLE'S BUSINESS.

Tuesday - the 27th - from 8am - 8pm at the Town Office - RSU Consolidation VOTE

All of the towns for proposed RSU 15 will be voting that day - Eddington, Clifton, Holden, Orrington and Brewer. It is my understanding that ALL of the towns have to approve the plan by at least a majority vote.