LINCOLNVILLE — Sixty-one registered Lincolnville voters attended the annual Town Meeting June 15, when three of the seven winning candidates also appeared to be sworn in.

Paul Gibbons was the moderator, and reviewed the results of the secret ballot elections held June 13. Also present at the meeting was the town attorney, Sally Daggett, and Jodi Hanson, the town’s finance director and deputy treasurer. Seated at the opposite table were Select Board members Rosendel "Rosey" Gerry, Ladleah Dunn, Keryn Laite Jr. and Dave Barrows. Gerry's term on the select board ended that night, as did Arthur Durity's, who was not present at the meeting and did not run again.

On June 13, voters went to the polls and elected Joshua Gerritsen and Jonathan Fishman to the two open three-year positions on the Board of Selectmen. Jill Feeney and Rebecca Stephens won the two three-year positions on the LCS School Committee, and Garry Schwall, Ed O'brien and Dorothy Lanphere were voted in to serve on the Budget Committee.

By a wide margin, voters approved the LCS School Budget article as well as the article seeking to approve amendments to the town's Harbor Ordinance. It was also clear that voters approved appropriating $25,000 to establish a Wastewater Capital Reserve Account, with 414 votes in favor and 132 opposed.

At Town Meeting, Karen Secotte, Lincolnville's deputy town clerk and deputy registrar of voters, said she checked in 61 of the town's 1,934 registered voters. Town Administrator David Kinney said those voters approved a total budget of $1,931,985 for the 2017-2018 Fiscal Year.

Moving through the remainder of the 2017 Warrant Thursday evening, which was open floor voting, voters approved raising and appropriating the following amounts:
Article 7: Municipal Administration and Finance — $402,216
Article 8: Municipal Protection — $182,913
Article 9: Municipal Town Office — $24,708
Article 10: Municipal Contingency — $10,000
Article 11: Municipal CEO and Assessing — $82,814
Article 12: Municipal Public Works — $982,040
Article 13: Municipal Boards and Committees — $9,863
Article 14: Municipal Support — $23,880
Article 15: Capital Improvement Program — $110,000
Article 16: Debt Service — $73,186
Article 17: Provider Agencies — $5,365

Article 18: To see what sums the Town will vote to appropriate from revenues and unassigned fund balance to reduce the property tax assessment for the 2017-2018 fiscal year: --- $1,281,277.92

Article 19 passed, as did Article 20, the latter of which asked voters to approve exercising a "Put Option" of the Limited Partnership with Penobscot Energy Recovery Company. By approving the authorization to seek and execute the Put Option, the town is electing to require the PERC Limited Partnership to repurchase the town's limited partnership interest in PERC in exchange for a cash payment equal to the town's proportionate share of an agreed upon aggregate value of $1,500,000. Camden and Rockport also voted in favor of the same Article on their warrants, as the towns seek to work with Ecomaine.

Article 20 passed, allowing the monies the town received from the Put Option to be transferred to the Mid-Coast Solid Waste Corp. Jacobs Quarry Closure Reserve. By consent agreement with the state, the four member towns of MCSWC are responsible for meeting closure requirements of the Jacobs Quarry Demolition Landfill on Union Street in Rockport. The estimated remaining life of the landfill is five to seven years.

Articles 22, 23 and 24 dealt with accepting donations of money from the Lincolnville Community Foundation: $10,000 to the Fire Truck Fund reserve account, $20,000 to the Lincolnville Fire Department Beach Road Building Fund reserve account and $20,000 into a new Lincolnville Fire Department Contingency reserve account.

Any future expenditure of the first two donations, Articles 22 and 23, will require subsequent approve from Town Meeting. Article 24 allows the fire chief and the board of selectmen to appropriate the funds for fire department uses as deemed in the best interest of the town, and subject to the town's purchasing and disbursement policies and procedures.

All three articles passes unanimously, with no discussion.

Voters passed Article 25, which rescinded a November 2011 donation of town-owned real estate on Greenacre Road to Habitat for Humanity of Waldo County, which no longer wanted the property. Instead, the Board of Selectmen will be authorized to sell the property.

Also passed was Article 26, to see if the town would approve a Community Development Block Grant application for a $500,000 Public Infrastructure Grant that would assist in expanding the sewer collection system and replace the existing wastewater treatment plant at Lincolnville Beach.

Gerry made an motion as Gibbons began to read Article 27, and requested that Articles 27 through 36 be voted on as one.

"They are basically housekeeping issues and we want to go home," said Gerry.

That motion passed, and the 2017 Lincolnville Town Meeting adjourned at 6:49 p.m., 49 minutes after it began with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Reach Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6655