PITTSFIELD — Amanda Collamore, an at-large member of the Town Council, announced this week that she’s resigning her seat but will remain on the council until the end of the year.

Collamore said that while she enjoyed her time on the council, she felt she was not able to give as much of her time to the role as she wanted. She also represents District 106 — Pittsfield, Clinton and Detroit — in the Maine House of Representatives.

“I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everybody and let you know how grateful I am for the opportunities I’ve had as a town councilor,” Collamore said Tuesday during a council meeting.

She said she wanted to announce her resignation in advance in the hopes that her seat can be filled with an election in November, rather than require an expensive special election for the seat.

Collamore is the chair of the council’s finance committee and said she also wanted to stay until the end of the year to help with the budget process, as Pittsfield’s budget aligns with the calendar year, not the fiscal year.

In other matters, the council discussed adopting a fireworks ordinance. Mayor Heather Donahue provided councilors with a version that was drafted by the town’s ordinance committee.

The proposed ordinance would be similar to state regulations on fireworks, but would allow fireworks later into the night on certain dates and would create a special permitting process for anyone who wanted to light fireworks outside of the specific holidays outlined in the ordinance.

The proposal would exempt the town and schools from the permitting process — an exception created with the thought of football games at Maine Central Institute, where the school will sometimes have fireworks.

At-Large Councilor Michael Cianchette said he objected to the exception for schools and didn’t see why they wouldn’t be able to apply for special permits for athletic contests.

“You’re giving the schools special privileges,” he said, later adding, “They know when those games are going to be.”

After some discussion, Donahue said the ordinance committee will continue to work on the issue and eventually bring it back to the council for approval.

The council also approved a motion for a petition that residents can sign objecting to the condition of Main Street.

“We thought it would add a little more weight to it if we had a petition from residents and businesses,” Donahue said.

The street is part of an ongoing construction project involving the Maine Department of Transportation, but Town Manager Kathryn Ruth said she has had difficulty getting an updated timeline on the project from MDOT.

The plan is to send the signed petition to MDOT so that it understands the sense of urgency among residents over the project, she said.

Ruth also noted during the meeting that tax bills have been sent to residents and that the tax rate has dropped slightly, from 2.43% last year down to 2.31%.

The council is scheduled to meet next on Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 6:30 p.m.

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