BURNHAM — Voters on Saturday spent nearly three hours discussing a 60-article warrant during the annual Town Meeting.

Beginning at 1 p.m. at the fire station at 89 Troy Road, a crowd of 18 residents and selectmen met for the meeting. Elections were held Friday. Selectmen Kristy Hapworth said the turnout was slightly lower than in previous years, where around 35 residents typically show up.

Hapworth said that the town has about 1,200 residents, including 894 registered voters.

Ricky Basford was elected as selectmen, assessor and overseer of the poor, replacing Wayne Mitchell, who chose not to run for reelection. The term is for three years.

Deputy Clerk Cay Jones was elected treasurer, defeating Susan King, who had previously held the position on an interim capacity. The position is for one year.

Incumbent highway Commissioner Charlie King will remain in his position; he ran unopposed. Franz Spiegel was elected cemetery sexton, a three-year term.

Advertisement

The meeting adjourned just before 4 p.m., but officials said the final budget total that was passed would not be immediately available.

Big ticket items that passed on Saturday included an article calling for $21,600 for fire protection; $16,000 for insurance; $9,100 for firefighter payroll; $6,000 for mowing; $208,000 for snow removal, sanding and salting; $117,023 for road resurfacing; and $100,000 plus revenues for the transfer station.

The Town Meeting warrant initially called for a $35,000 recommendation for town roads and patching. Voters ultimately decided to increase this number to $60,000, citing the need to shim down some roads that have wheel ruts on top of what the $35,000 would cover.

Charlie King, fire chief and highway commissioner, pitched the idea of raising this cost.

“As far as changing culverts and stuff like that, getting the roads ready for hot tops, they’re pretty close and I feel like they can get all of the culverts changed,” King said. “If we raised it to $60,000, we could actually go around and shim some of the spots that have got those real bad wheel ruts in them so the water don’t lay in the hot top and create potholes.”

Residents were also asked to spend $100,000 for town officers’ salaries. The item passed, but was first amended to include that another $20,000 be used from the surplus funds. Residents also agreed on $9,000 for office equipment; $25,000 plus revenues from costs on liens for incidental expenses, which is down $10,000 from the initial article; and $10,000 for the exterior and $3,000 for interior work at the municipal building.

Other approved items include $13,000 for cemeteries, and $10,000 for work on the erosion problem at the town boat landing and public beach.

The final budget number that passed is expected to be available Monday.


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.