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NORRIDGEWOCK — Norridgewock voters on Tuesday are set to fill a vacancy on the town’s Select Board and weigh in on the purchase of maintenance equipment and a small parcel of land.

The special town meeting election is scheduled for July 30, with polls open at the town office from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The town office, which is not the town’s usual polling location, is at 16 Perkins St.

In the Select Board race, two candidates are running to fill a seat on the five-member board vacated by Cheyenne Goodrich, who resigned effective May 31. The winner will serve the remainder of the one-year term, which expires in March 2025.

Charles “Chuck” A. Farrand and Margaret J. O’Connell, the two running for Select Board, are both current members of the Planning Board.

Farrand, a 65-year-old retired dairy farmer, said he has no particular goals and is willing to commit himself to the position.

“No big reason, other than I got time to do it, and I think I know a lot of people,” Farrand said. “And I will come to the meetings. There’s quite a lot of absenteeism in some of this town stuff.”

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O’Connell, 56, works with the elderly and as a farmer. She said her goal is to become more involved in town politics beyond just the Planning Board.

“I want to be more involved and more committed to Norridgewock and focus on items that the town of Norridgewock and people are interested in,” O’Connell said.

Also on Tuesday’s ballot, residents will vote “yes” or “no” on the proposed purchase of a multi-use machine for sidewalk and road maintenance through the appropriation of $175,000 from undesignated fund balance, or surplus.

The town is considering a trackless machine capable of plowing, snowblowing and spreading salt, according to Town Manager Richard LaBelle. The machine also has a flail mower, which could be used for the town’s roadside mowing.

“That flail mower would allow the town to complete roadside mowing and other tasks within the scope of current public works operations,” LaBelle said. “So that would allow us to control the timing, availability, and frequency of mowing, but it also proves, theoretically, to provide a break even in a long-term cost savings for the town.”

Availability of contractors continues to be unpredictable, LaBelle said. This year, the town received only one bid for its roadside mowing at around $25,000, he said.

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Town officials decided the town had sufficient surplus to propose making the purchase from fund balance, LaBelle said.

“The (Select) Board looked at the various funding options and determined that the level of our surplus is healthy and that it would make sense to make such a purchase from that,” LaBelle said. “And then it doesn’t affect taxation at all.”

The final item on the ballot asks voters to approve or reject the purchase of a 0.37-acre parcel on Mercer Road, for a price not to exceed $45,000. The question asks voters to appropriate $50,000 from surplus funds, which LaBelle said would cover the purchase and the additional fees and costs required to complete the real estate transaction.

The town could use the parcel, next to Mill Stream Elementary School, for several purposes, such as parking or recreational courts. The Select Board has discussed some possibilities but has no firm plans, LaBelle said, adding that the board intends to engage the public when deciding the parcel’s future use.

“They saw this as an opportunity for the town to have some say as to how that property moves forward,” LaBelle said of the Select Board’s discussions.

The current landowner, who largely initiated the possible sale, had previously tried to sell the land to the school district when it was building the adjacent school, LaBelle said.

“It’s a mutually beneficial proposal,” LaBelle said. “And I think that for the community, it’s a very positive proposal with great potential.”

Jake covers public safety, courts and immigration in central Maine. He started reporting at the Morning Sentinel in November 2023 and previously covered all kinds of news in Skowhegan and across Somerset...

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