FAYETTE — About 42 registered voters attended Saturday morning’s Town Meeting at Fayette Central School, passing almost all the proposed articles as written to fund the schools as well as the town government.

Residents approved spending of slightly less than $1.8 million on schools, and about $980,000 on the town government.

Budget Committee member Joel Swimm asked residents to revisit a proposal calling for a full-time principal at Fayette Central School, which houses grades pre-kindergarten through five. He suggested the principal should take on some teaching duties or other activities as well.

“For us to be paying this kind of money for someone to be in the building only being the principal I think is just overkill,” Swimm said. About $50,000 is budgeted for the prinicipal’s post.

However, the moderator, Sen. Tom Saviello, R-Wilton told him it was not possible to amend the article to do as Swimm proposed.

“We’re not voting on the position; we’re voting on the money,” Saviello said.

George Joseph, a resident who is also a school superintendent, said prior boards and subcommittees and a survey of residents indicated they supported a full-time principal and a part-time superintendent.

“When you look at running a $1.7 million business, a lot of paperwork and a lot of politics are involved in it,” he said. “The superintendent is like the overseer, like the CEO. The principal is the day-to-day-operation person who will wear many, many hats.”

That discussion was watched both by outgoing Fayette Schools Superintendent Michael Cormier and the incoming Superintendent Jim Hodgkin, who is taking the part-time post at Fayette in addition to his role as superintendent at Regional School Unit 4, consisting of Litchfield, Sabattus and Wales.

Outside the meeting, Hodgkin said the school boards in both communities agreed to give it a shot.

He said Fayette will pay $22,000 for 50 days of his superintendent services for a year, and that he hopes it will continue after that.

“Part of it is that the culture and the work in a place like this is so different,” Hodgkin said. “I (worked) the first five years in a small K-8 school teaching seventh and eighth grades. I really love the feeling of these small community schools.”

Fayette has 166 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12, with 82 students at Fayette Central School. The 84 students in grades six through 12 have school choice, meaning they can attend any one of several different area schools, with the town paying some or all tuition.

The residents voted to spend up to $3,700 for new carpeting for the school library, but they rejected spending money for an engineering study to do a site evaluation for parking at the school, which also functions as the community center.

Resident Al Godfrey Sr., a professional engineer, suggested some engineers who live in Fayette might volunteer their services to look at parking, which becomes a problem when the building holds a community supper and other well-attended events. An expenditure of up to $10,000 was listed on the warrant, including both the library carpeting and the site evaluation.

Voters rejected amendments to halve a $6,000 expenditure for extra rural patrols during the summer by Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office deputies, instead adopting the full amount.

Both Budget Committee member Eleanor Andrews and resident Judith Schneider spoke in favor of lowering the amount.

Jon Beekman, vice chairman of the selectmen, opposed cutting the funds and thereby the extra patrols.

“The crooks aren’t stupid. If they see extra officers, they tend to look elsewhere,” he said, adding that outgoing Selectwoman Mary Wright urged support for the $6,000 budget item as well.

Selectwoman-elect Nancy Cronin, said that while the town has some problems, “I think we have less issues than most. I certainly don’t want to cut it.”

Staff Sgt. Frank Hatch, a Kennebec County sheriff’s deputy, told residents he schedules the special four-hour details, discussing with town officials where and when they should take place, generally targeting high-traffic areas and some side roads.

“When we’re doing the detail, we’re working for the town,” he said. Deputies and the Maine State Police respond to criminal complaints in Fayette as well.

At the polls on Tuesday, voters weighed in on a nonbinding proposal to reschedule Town Meeting for a weeknight rather than a Saturday.

The proposal passed, 86-68. Town Manager Mark Robinson said the selectmen have yet to discuss how to move forward with it.

In a message to voters, Robinson wrote that if all proposed warrant articles are approved, the combined town and school budget would increase from $2.6 million to just above $3 million. The current tax rate in Fayette is $15.10 per $1,000 worth of valuation. It should remain close to that when selectmen commit taxes in September, according to Town Manager Mark Robinson.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

Copy the Story Link