West Paris to take pro-pot article to voters

WEST PARIS — Breaking with their peers from nearby larger towns, West Paris selectmen voted Thursday, December 28, to let a pro-marijuana ordinance appear on the warrant at town meeting.

If adopted by voters at the March 3 gathering, the ordinance would make possession of the drug the “lowest law enforcement priority” in West Paris.  

The proposal was submitted by the eight-month-old Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative.  Based in Lewiston, the loose-kit group of about 700 activists across the state hopes to end pot prohibition in Maine.

The refusal to block the ordinance from public debate prompted an impassioned response from Roland Delamater.  A presence at all selectmen’s meetings, Delamater tapes the sessions for broadcast on the local public-access tv channel. He rarely speaks, but appeared unusually moved by the ruling.

“Thank you for doing that,” he said, stepping forward for a rare appearance in front of the camera.  “I know it’s an unenforceable ordinance, but you guys kept the town’s finances in mind.”

Jonathan Leavitt, executive director of the Marijuana Initiative, called the decision "a victory for local democracy.”

Leavitt has threatened lawsuits against South Paris and Farmington, where selectmen reached different conclusions.  In those towns, town fathers refused to let the ordinance appear on town meeting warrants, despite the fact that it was submitted with enough signatures to normally bypass their authority.

State law says that when a petition is turned in with valid signatures equal to at least 10 percent of the people who voted in the most recent gubernatorial election, the question must be put on the next town meeting warrant, or a special town meeting must be called within 60 days.

“If they turn their backs on their obligation as elected officials, a lawsuit is an option for us,” said Leavitt, following the South Paris decision.

West Paris selectmen say they have little personal enthusiasm for the pro-pot ordinance, and have openly questioned how their small town, without a police force of its own, could possibly direct which laws county and state officers will uphold. 

Still, they said that once citizens spoke, however figuratively by signing Leavitt’s petition, they felt compelled to obey. 

“It’s got nothing to do with whether we want it or not, it’s got to do with whether they have enough signatures,” said Selectman Wade Rainey.

“We’ll just have to let it go forward and see how it goes,” agreed selectman Dennis Henderson.

Leavitt says the ordinance is designed to officially record the stance of West Paris citizens regarding marijuana use.  By de-emphasizing enforcement at the grassroots level, the Marijuana Initiative hopes to put pressure on state and federal officials to eventually relax all laws prohibiting the use of marijuana. 

“If policy change is going to happen it's vital that local towns and cities make their views known publicly,” says Leavitt.  “We simply cannot wait for the federal government to see the wisdom in changing arcane, destructive, costly, and failed policies."

Toward that end, volunteers fanned out across Western Maine on election day, November 7, to gather petition signatures for their proposal. 

In a two-pronged approach, Marijuana Initiative members also supported a second signature drive, intended to beef up Maine’s seven-year-old Medical Marijuana Law.  If that ballot initiative makes it to a statewide referendum next year, and gets the nod from voters, it would create marijuana dispensaries and force Augusta to launch education campaigns about the service.

Although Leavitt claims enough signatures were gathered to bring the “lowest law enforcement” ordinance to a head in many towns, he says his group decided to test the waters in only four “target communities” — West Paris, South Paris, Sumner, and Farmington.

Leavitt lives in Sumner.  The other towns all displayed a groundswell of support for the ordinance, he says.

That support, however, did not extend to selectmen in South Paris.  They turned the idea down cold. 

Acting on advice from Richard P. Flewelling, an attorney with the Maine Municipal Authority, they deemed the ordinance “illegal.”  South Paris Town Manager Sharon Jackson said this negated the board’s obligation to present it to voters. 

In a letter to Jackson, Flewelling stressed that it is state laws that govern the manufacture, possession, sale and use of marijuana.

“It is beyond the legal authority of any municipality to repeal them, or to prohibit or impede their enforcement,” he wrote. 

Although Leavitt submitted almost twice the valid signatures needed, South Paris selectmen refused to place the ordinance on the town meeting warrant.  Selectmen in Farmington took a similar stance.

In West Paris however, selectmen broke form.

“I think that where the petitioners submitted enough signatures, and where they’ve all been verified, basically, the townspeople said they want it on the warrant,” said Rainey.

“I don’t know if it’s an ‘illegal’ ordinance, but it’s certainly not anything we could enforce,” he reasoned.  “It would be an ordinance that would just be sitting there on the books, but it’s up to the townspeople to decide if they want that sitting there or not.”

In reaching their decision, West Paris selectmen not only bucked the advice of MMA, and precedent set by their more populous neighbors, they also appear to have turned on the advice of the town’s attorney Geoffrey Hole.

During a 20-minute executive session, December 14, selectmen reviewed a letter from Hole which reportedly backed Flewelling’s opinion.  An idea said to have been floated was to have all of the town’s petitioned by the Marijuana Initiative band together in any resulting legal fight.

Instead, West Paris selectmen said the people’s right to speak, right or wrong, trumped the offer of group  discount from their attorney.  Still, they also made it clear that by moving the ordinance proposal forward, they hope to stave off all potential legal action.

However, in doing so, West Paris charts a different course than the one taken by neighboring Sumner, where selectmen also decided to honor petition signatures and let the pro-pot ordinance go to town meeting.

In Sumner, Leavitt met with town clerk Susan Runes to comb over the model ordinance that was attached to the petition signed by voters.

“I went over things that I found very unacceptable,” said Runes, on Friday.  “I just felt we needed to do something because if it passes the way it is, it’s unworkable.”

Runes said some of those changes may by voted in at a public hearing to be held sometime between now and Sumner’s August town meeting.

Although West Paris also plans to hold a public hearing on the proposed ordinance, selectboard chairman Bill Birney says there can be no changes in his town.

“The folks that signed that petition signed for that particular document and that’s the document that’s going to go on the warrant,” he said.

Still, even though Leavitt says he’s glad his issue will get a public airing in West Paris, he is not all smiles about his dealings with Town Manager Don Woodbury, whom he says “seems to be doing his best to keep us out of the loop.”

In a recent letter to the town, Leavitt praised selectmen for acting “in the interest of local democracy,” despite any personal misgivings they may have about the pro-marijuana stance of the proposed ordinance.  However, he had few kind words for Woodbury.

“He has shown his lack of enthusiasm for his role by providing us with only a hard copy of the town voter list, despite the list being available electronically.  Farmington, Sumner and [South] Paris all readily provided electronic voting lists to us,” wrote Leavitt.

“Mr. Woodbury has also refused to provide us with a copy of the rulings that came his way from lawyers who were asked to provide their opinion on the issue, in stark contrast to the Sumner town clerk, the Paris town manager and the Farmington town manager, who maintained open

communication with us, in at least one case despite their lack of support for the issue.

“I would also point out that Mr. Woodbury has refused to keep us in the loop around when the public hearing will be held to review the proposed ordinance and get feedback. His response, when asked, was to inform us that it will be posted in a local newspaper and we should look there for the information sometime in February.”

Leavitt also complained about not getting “a simple phone call” to inform him that his proposed ordinance, tabled at an earlier meeting, would be ruled on at the December 28 meeting of the West Paris selectmen.

However, the matter was not on the agenda for that meeting, and was brought up as an additional item by Chairman Bill Birney, who expressed a desire to deal with the issue and not let it hang any longer in limbo. 

Hearings on the lowest law enforcement priority ordinance have yet to be scheduled in either West Paris or Sumner.  By press time, no lawsuits related to the petition drive had been filed against South Paris or Farmington.  

West Paris faces 38.8 percent budget hike

WEST PARIS — It’s that time of year again, when area towns which have stuck to a town meeting date in March begin to hammer out annual budgets for voter approval.

In West Paris, work gets under way in earnest this evening, with the first meeting of the budget committee. 

This seven-member citizen panel will review the 2007 budget proposal submitted by Town Manager Don Woodbury, starting at 5 p.m., Thursday, January 4, at the town office.

Woodbury’s initial spending plan, unveiled at the December 28 selectmen’s meeting, rang in at $961,665, or slightly less than the current $1,011,390 municipal budget.

“I was just looking at what was spent [in 2006] and being more realistic,” Woodbury explained, on Friday.  “Rather than raising money that doesn’t get used, I’m only asking for money I think we really need.”

Roughly $82,000 was freed up with the completion of Main Street construction this year.  Everywhere else, it was simply a matter of tightening the belt, says Woodbury, as he budgeted fewer dollars wherever sizable amounts looked to be rolling back into the general fund, untouched.

However, Woodbury’s first draft did not include some large items expected to be in the budget voters will debate come March.

“We have three major, big ticket items that we really don’t have a good plan on, yet” explained selectboard Chairman Bill Birney at last Thursday’s meeting.

Later in that session, selectmen settled on their one of these items, the town’s one major road project scheduled for this summer.  At an estimated cost of $150,900, they hope to have the last gravel section of Tuelltown Road paved.

Also, selectmen plan to ask voters for money to buy a new fire truck.  After several back and forth rounds with Fire Chief Norm St. Pierre, the current request looks to be $178,171 for a 2008 Kenworth pumper from Southern Fire Services in Jasper, GA. 

That engine is about $30,000 less than a different Kenworth model St. Pierre asked for three months ago, when he first broached the topic of buying a new fire engine.  Despite haggling down the price since then, selectman continue to push for a better deal.

“I’ve asked Norm [St. Pierre] to check on different chassis,” said Dennis Henderson.  “There’s quite a difference in price.”

When St. Pierre went before selectmen in late September, he asked for nearly $200,000 to modernize the town’s two-vehicle fleet.  He wanted to buy a new fire engine to replace a 1979 pumper that was acting up, plus spend another $22,000 to put an automatic transmission in the town’s newer, six-year-old engine, making it easier for firefighters to drive.

Selectmen briefly considered calling a special town meeting to approve the purchase, but held off.  Instead, they spent a total of about $15,000 to install a less complicated manual transmission in the new truck and to make repairs to the old one.

“Bill [Birney] figured out that we could fix the old truck for about what we would have spent in interest charges [between November and town meeting], had we gone out for a loan on a new one,” said Woodbury.  “This way, if we do decide to buy a new fire engine at town meeting, we still have the old one to use as a back-up.”

Whatever selectmen finally okay for a fire engine, it will need about $13,000 in equipment before it can be put into service.

“I think as a board, we’ve agreed that we do need a new truck,” said Birney.  “As to how to pay for it, I think we have several different options. 

“I would prefer to pay for it all right off through [property] taxes, or financing a minimum part of it,” he said.  “I just can’t see financing it for five or six years like we did the last one.  We were paying $13,000 a year in interest charges.  That’s really just a waste of taxpayer money.”

Birney also is championing the purchase of a new bucket loader for the town highway department.  Bids are due at the town office tomorrow, Friday, January 5, and are expected to come in at “about $100,000,” says Woodbury.

If all three “big ticket” additions are approved, West Paris’ 2007 budget will run to $1,403,736.  This means that as budget committee members sits down to work, they face a potential 38.8 percent increase in municipal spending.

Woodbury says the budget committee will probably hold “two or three” meetings, including at least one joint session with selectmen.

“It’s helpful if we can get them to come to an agreement, but it varies,” he said.  “Sometimes they come to an easy agreement, other times the warrant will have two different recommendations [on certain articles].”

One budget committee meeting will be set aside to meet with representatives from various social service agencies, which routinely ask for public funding.  However, some of those groups could be turned away empty handed this year.

“It’s my understanding that there was a vote taken some time ago at town meeting not to include any new requests,” explained Selectman Wade Rainey.

The budget committee must wrap up its work by February 10, when the annual town meeting warrant is scheduled to go to the printers. 

“We’ve all got a lot of homework to do in the next two to three weeks,” quipped Birney.

West Paris’ annual town meeting is set for 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 3, at the Agnes Gray Elementary School.

The West Paris budget committee members are: Lisa Henderson, Betty Jones, Sylvia McCann, Dale Piirainen, Ken Poland, Diane Rainey and George Twine.  A committee chairman will be chosen at tonight’s meeting.

Solid Waste manager quits

NORWAY — Alison McCrady, named the best solid waste manager in the state in 2004, has quit her position with Norway-Paris Solid Waste (NPSW) after a little more than four years on the job.

Officially, McCrady resigned to return to Idaho, “to pursue job opportunities and to care for her elderly parents,” according to a joint statement issued on behalf of McCrady and the NPSW board of directors by Paris attorney Dana Hanley.

However, intrigue has swirled around the Brown Street transfer station for several weeks.

At the last meeting of the year for Paris selectmen, Town Manager Sharon Jackson informed town fathers that, earlier in the day, NPSW treasurer Bruce Hanson called to say that “the situation has been resolved.”

“What situation is that?” asked Selectman Ernie Fitts.

Jackson explained that on Tuesday, December 5, McCrady was suspended by NPSW directors for five days.  Beyond that, she had no other information, and said she did not know herself what the “situation” was.

NPSW directors have been tight-lipped.  They continue to refuse to say why McCrady was suspended without pay, or to explain why Hanson abstained from the vote. 

McCrady did appeal the suspension.  However, according to Norway Town Manager David Holt, it was unclear who McCrady was appealing to.  The town selectboards, he said, had no power to overturn the suspension.

During the suspension, NPSW board members filed in for McCrady.  Hanson says they will continue to do so now that she is not returning to work. 

In a recent telephone interview, Hanson said “everything is going great” at the transfer station.  He also complimented NPSW employees for “stepping up to the plate.”  There has been no decision yet, he said, on how or when to replace McCrady.

Beyond that, Hanson referred all questions to attorney Hanley.

For his part, Hanley’s only comment was to release the short, one paragraph joint statement, in which the NPSW board wished McCrady “well in her new endeavors.”

“The board commends Alison for her hard work and expertise, including her extensive knowledge of the laws and methods applying to the waste disposal and recycling industry, as well as her high productivity and reliability. They have rescinded her recent suspension,” read the statement.

Both Hanson and Hanley declined to say if the action to rescind the suspension came before or after McCrady resigned.  However, Hanson did say that this action absolved the board from ever having to explain why McCrady was suspended in the first place.

NPSW President Ray Garnett could not be reached for comment over the holidays.

The NPSW board will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 9, at the Norway town office, to work on their budget for the coming year.   The next regular board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, January 15, at the Paris town office.

Who benefits from a warm Western Maine winter? Nobody who’ll admit it

WESTERN MAINE — Given all the unreasonably warm weather lately, and talk of doom and gloom in winter related industries, who benefits?

As the saying goes, make hay while the sun shines, so, with temperatures in the balmy forties, surely somebody must be saying a silent prayer to the weather gods.

Perhaps not.

“The reality of it is, I can’t imagine that anybody benefits,” says Rich Livingston, president of the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce.   “This is such a four seasons community.  Almost everybody here is acclimated to the seasons coming and going that I can’t imagine anybody benefits when they don’t change on schedule.”

But what about contractors, carpenters, and others who work outdoors?  Livingston says some independent construction outfits may squeeze in an extra job or two, but on the whole, major firms are not prepared to take advantage of an unseasonably warm snap.

“Their work is really based on the calendar, rather than on the weather,” he says.

Even some small firms might shy away from taking on extra work right now, either because they’ve already made other plans, or for fear the temperature could snap back to subzero at any moment.

Well then, what about the towns.  If the snowplows aren’t running, surely we must be saving something in tax dollars that can be rolled over into next year’s municipal budget.

Not so quick, says Norway Town Manager David Holt.

“We probably benefit some, but not nearly as much as people think we do,” he says.  “When it rains this time of year, we are pretty apt to be out salting and sanding even though there isn’t much snow.”

Holt also cautions that whatever highway money is saved in a light winter can disappear in an instant come spring.

“The ground is pretty full of water,” he says, conjuring up images of spring flooding and washed out roads.

Well then, how about agriculture?  Maybe the farmers can get a jump on the growing season thanks to the unseasonable weather?

Richard Brzozowski, an educator with the University of Maine’s cooperative extension office, says it’s unlikely.

Although farmers might save money by not having to spend as much on fuel to heat their greenhouses, or on animal feed — since livestock will not need as much food to maintain body heat in warm weather — they are just as likely to lose that savings when crops fail without adequate snow cover to insulate roots.

“Even if there is a short-term benefit, farmers know that everything balances out,” says Brzozowski.

Well, then what about retail.  Maybe in the absence of freezing cold and snowy sidewalks, shoppers are out more than usual for this time of year.

If so, Lorrie Bean, of Lola’s Boutique in Norway, hasn’t seen them.  In fact, she’s going out of business.

So, is it possible that nobody benefits?  And if so, what’s to be done.

In answer, Holt reaches deep into his playback of usable quotes.

“Love him or hate him, but I think [New England Patriots coach] Bill Belichick is pretty smart.  When asked a question like this, he’ll say, ‘You just have to accept things the way they are and deal with the circumstances that present themselves.’”