CORNVILLE — The third time’s the charm.

Cornville voters finished their annual town meeting Tuesday night, the third attempt to do so in exactly four months, amid questions from some residents about the town’s financial records.

And, it seems, in a town where business tends to be done the old-fashioned way, a newly appointed town treasurer with experience in municipal finance is making moves to bring Cornville’s bookkeeping up to contemporary standards.

About 40 voters from the town of about 1,300 people gathered at the Cornville Town Hall on West Ridge Road, discussing and voting on the remaining warrant articles for about a half hour.

Previously, voters had approved 15 of the 25 articles, which included most of the budget-related items. They approved the first 14 during the town meeting on March 1 and one more at the second attempt on March 15, according to town officials.

On Tuesday, voters approved the two remaining 2025 budget articles: raising and appropriating $5,000 for the Kennebec Regional Development Authority and $23,000 to update tax maps, maintain records and print bills.

They also passed other pending town business, including updates to the Road and Entrance Design Standards Ordinance and the Waste Management Ordinance, as well as the use of up to $300,000 in surplus funds to offset taxation.

Also, voters heard from Erin Norton, who was appointed as town treasurer after Christine Quinn resigned in May.

Following Quinn’s resignation, which came amid a legally questionable effort to recall her from office, voters at a special town meeting May 19 changed the position from elected to appointed.

Norton, who also works as treasurer for Starks, Chesterville and New Sharon, and recently assisted Anson after its former town administrator died unexpectedly, said she had worked up until Monday to finish reconciling 2024 financial records.

Four deposits were actually much larger amounts than what had been entered into the town’s bookkeeping software, Norton said.

“I feel very comfortable with the report that you guys have tonight and can defend those numbers because they’re mine,” she said at the beginning of the meeting.

Norton said she is working to switch the town to TRIO software, which is used for budgeting and other town business such as vehicle registrations and tax collection. Most municipalities in Maine use it, according to Norton.

“The way we collect taxes right now is pretty archaic,” she said. “I was very surprised. Pencil and paper is a bit unheard of in 2025.”

The new software will eventually also enable Cornville residents to register their vehicles online through the state’s Rapid Renewal system, Norton said.

The upfront cost for the software is $18,900, half of which will be paid next year, Norton said. After that, the yearly renewal cost is $4,900.

Cornville’s financial records, and the town officials who are responsible for them, have been under scrutiny in recent months.

Town officials said after the two attempts at finishing town meeting in March that they were waiting for a financial audit before scheduling a new date.

Melvin Blaisdell, chairman of the select board, said previously the Maine Municipal Association advised him that with some items still pending, town officials could operate on what voters approved in 2024.

But a spokesperson for MMA, which provides education and information to its municipal members and advocates for municipal concerns, told the Morning Sentinel that town officials could not simply rely on last year’s budget.

State statute does not specify that municipalities can do that, and Cornville has no charter, a document that may specify what happens in that scenario. And the 2024 town meeting warrant did not include an article, common in other Maine towns, asking voters to authorize the spending of a portion of the current budget in the next budget year until the next town meeting.

The issue around town financial records escalated in April, when Jamie Strout, a Cornville Budget Committee member who said he made the motions to table the first two town meetings, filed a petition and signatures to recall Quinn, who was elected treasurer in March 2024.

It’s unclear what would have happened with the recall had Quinn not resigned.

Maine statutes outline a process for the recall of municipal officials that applies when municipalities such as Cornville do not have their own recall ordinance or charter.

The provisions apply only “if the official is convicted of a crime, the conduct of which occurred during the official’s term of office and the victim of which is the municipality.”

Quinn has not been convicted of such a crime, according to several town officials.

In her brief resignation letter, obtained through a request under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act, Quinn cited “time restraints conflicting with (her) regular full time job” as the reason she quit.