MADISON — The Board of Selectmen is seeking public input on a number of proposed ordinance changes, mostly related to property maintenance, that have come up as housekeeping matters.
On Monday the board agreed to hold a public hearing on Feb.22 on the proposed changes to five ordinances.
Town Manager Tim Curtis said most of the changes are “cleaning up” things that came to his attention over the course of the last year, including proposed changes discussed Monday night for the cemetery and building construction ordinances.
“These are things that came to my attention, and I looked into them. If I found there was a discrepancy and it needed to go to the board, it went on the agenda,” Curtis said. “It just so happened that we’ve had a number of them.”
On Monday, for example, the board discussed expanding the number of cremations allowed per cemetery plot from six to eight.
“It’s one of those quirky things,” Curtis said. “You talk to people that are in the funeral business, and more and more people are choosing to do cremations. That affects your ordinances as to how many burials you allow in one plot.
“We just need to update our ordinance to include a greater number of cremations per plot,” Curtis said.
The board voted unanimously Monday to approve the proposed changes to the cemetery ordinance as well as changes in the language of the building construction ordinance, including an increase in the penalty if construction is started before a permit is obtained.
The current penalty for building prior to obtaining a permit is $40, but under the proposed change it would increase to 10 percent of the project cost, but not less than $250.
In addition to the two ordinances discussed Monday night, the board is also considering updates to the property maintenance ordinance, the creation of a minimum lot size ordinance and the creation of a Madison village area designation.
After the public hearing the changes are expected to appear on the warrant for the annual town meeting in June, Curtis said, and will require public approval before they go into effect.
In other news Monday, Curtis also read to the board a letter of resignation from Deputy Eric Bronson of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office Madison Division.
Bronson is the fourth out of five police officers that worked for the Madison Police Department before it consolidated with the sheriff’s office in July to leave Madison.
Bronson, who is taking a job with the Maine State Police after working in Madison for three years, wrote that he has “great respect” for Sheriff Dale Lancaster and the sheriff’s office and that his decision to leave the department was not related to recent changes in Madison’s police force, according to the letter read Monday night.
The board also voted unanimously to approve the town’s share of a $67,502 budget for local public access television station Channel 11, which also serves Anson and Skowhegan.
Rachel Ohm — 612-2368
Twitter: @rachel_ohm
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.