Between 40 and 50 Litchfield residents agreed at special town meeting Monday to declare the town food sovereign and to approve spending town funds for repairs to the Litchfield Academy building.

Town Manager Trudy Lamoreau said Tuesday that the meeting, held at the Litchfield Central Fire Station, lasted only about a half-hour.

With a show of hands, votes approved both measures on the special town meeting warrant. The only discussion during the 30-minute meeting, she said, came on the food sovereignty ordinance.

“The only concern, which won’t amount to much, is why there should be such a harsh fine (in the ordinance),” Lamoreau said.

The ordinance allows producers, growers, and processors of food or food products — but not meat or poultry or products made from them — to sell them directly to consumers at the site of production without having to undergo licensure or inspection. Under the ordinance, violations are considered civil violations and are subject to a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $500.

“It was established in the ordinance,” she said. “We can look at that later.”

Selectman Mark Russell said before the vote that there was enough interest in Litchfield to bring the matter before voters even though no official petition for a special town meeting was submitted.

The repairs to the Litchfield Academy building, which is used for community meetings among other things, are needed to fix fire pulls, which were found to be inoperative and out of date.

 

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