Readfield is seeking applicants to fill a vacancy on the Maranacook school committee.

Selectmen on Monday accepted the resignation of James Marr, who was elected as a write-in candidate in June 2015. Readfield has three seats on the Regional School Unit 38 committee.

Bruce Bourgoine, selectboard chairman, said Marr’s resignation letter indicated work demands got in the way of his attending as many of the meetings as he would like to. Marr has worked as a restaurant consultant.

The board voted to accept the resignation “with regret” and thanked him for his service.

Any resident seeking to fill the post can fill out an application at the Town Office.

Bourgoine said the board wants to appoint a replacement representative within its next few meetings. That appointed member would serve until the June 2017 election.

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The town has two other representatives on the regional school board, Betty Morrell and Shawn Roderick.

In other business Monday, selectmen voted 4-1 to award a bid for tree work at several town cemeteries to Stevenson Solutions of Wayne.

Selectman Thomas Dunham dissented, saying he had concerns there was a conflict of interest — a close friendship — between the cemetery sexton, who was forwarding the bid recommendation from the committee, and the bidder. However, Town Manager Eric Dyer and members of the Cemetery Committee said that the concern was addressed and no conflict was found.

The town’s conflict of interest ordinance addresses financial conflicts only, Dyer said, not personal or family relationships.

Deb Doten, a member of the Cemetery Committee, told selectmen at the meeting that it was discussed several times. “In a nutshell, probably we’ve spent three hours on it,” Doten said, adding that the sexton did not vote on the award. The bid for up to $4,500 includes pruning, cabling and removing various trees.

The board also voted to sign a permanent trail easement, which provides access to the town-owned Mill Stream Dam, and a five-year agreement to access a trail which runs past the dam to an overlook of the old mill pond. The latter agreement is automatically renewed every five years unless prior notice is given, according to Jerry Bley, a member of the Conservation Commission, one of the town groups working on the project.

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The agreements are with the property owners, Robert and Helen Bittar.

Bley asked that the signed documents remain unrecorded until the Conservation Committee and the town are sure funding, permits and final approval are received for the Mill Stream Dam Project.

The board agreed to sign, and Selectman Kathryn Woodsum thanked the Bittars for giving the town the right to use their property.

Mill Stream Dam, which was destroyed in the historic flood of April 1987, is near both the Town Office and busy Route 17, locally known as Main Street.

Some broken slabs of reinforced concrete remain at the dam site while others rest on banks farther downstream. The intent of the committee is not to rebuild the dam, but to provide public access to the natural surroundings.

Selectmen also made permanent the former ad hoc Age Friendly Committee. The four current members were reappointed for a year.

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Romaine Turyn, a committee member, said the committee hopes to have a report completed this winter. The committee had conducted a survey to determine the needs of older people in the town, and more than 100 residents responded.

Selectman John Parent, who supported a permanent committee, said, “I really don’t see the needs that this committee addresses going away period, not even in the next five years. We’re all going to get older.”

Dunham voted against the move, indicating he preferred to see the committee continue on an ad hoc basis.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams


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