The town of Morrill held its annual town meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 11, at the Community Center with about 35 people attending.
The town’s third selectman position was on this year’s warrant. The position had been vacant since last July, when Gary Sheldon, Morrill selectman and lifelong resident, passed away after a short illness. This was the second time in less than two years that the town had lost an acting selectman.
Armed with prior experience, the remaining selectmen chose to leave the position unfilled to allow more time for any interested residents to consider serving on the Select Board. In the end, Brian Simmons, was the only person to put forth his name for consideration and was voted in without dissension.
Brian is well-known for his love of a good conversation, so, after being confirmed as the new third selectman, the moderator, Greg Whitcomb, piped up and said, “Well, now the selectmen’s meetings will be a lot longer!” His jest drew a burst of laughter from everyone in the room.
After the selectman’s position was voted on, the next position needing to be filled was for a new member of the Regional School Unit 71 Board of Directors. Jean Dube, who has served on the board for two different terms over a great number of years, had expressed a desire to step down. Jean spoke for a few minutes about the need for Morrill to have a person on the school board in order for the town to have a “voice” in the school district. Unfortunately, no one stepped up to put their “name in the hat.”
Jean will finish her term at the end of June and it is hoped that before she is done, someone will be willing to step up and fill the position. The town would like to thank Jean for her many years of service and wish her the very best.
The rest of the meeting went quite quickly, slowing down only for some discussion regarding social service donations as well as a couple of new ordinances regarding solar farms and food sovereignty. Some clarification was made as to what products would fall under the food sovereignty ordinance before it was accepted by a vote of hands.
Then a resident proposed that the Planning Board make an adjustment to the boundary setback that was in the current version of the solar farm ordinance. Because no changes can be made to an ordinance except by the Planning Board, the townspeople voted to pass the ordinance as it stood, but informally asked the Planning Board to make adjustments to the ordinance over the next year.
All other warrant articles were accepted and passed without changes and with little discussion. When the final article was presented, “To have a motion to adjourn,” it was heartily approved by all present, ending the meeting by 11:35 a.m.
