Alna may face moratorium votes

Alna First Selectman Ed Pentaleri said he is prepared to ask the board to include on the March town meeting warrant proposed moratoriums on solar farms and mineral extraction, to give the town time to create ordinances for them. Alna has no standards for either, he said.

“We’ve got big things that could come to town and we have absolutely no way to say, ‘It’s got to be this way’ or ‘Community interests would be served by it being that way.’ We just have no standard to review those kinds of projects,” he said in the board’s Feb. 8 meeting at the town office and over Zoom.

Pentaleri said he got thinking after resident Jeff Philbrick responded via email to the board’s request for public feedback on proposed town fee changes. Also commenting during the meeting, Philbrick observed the town lists no fees for projects that may “disproportionately” impact roads or other town resources.

Pentaleri said, since the town’s ordinances do not define a solar farm or something like a gravel pit or quarry, “I don’t think we’re in a position ... today to add a line to our fee schedule for either of those activities, but (it) would be in the (town’s) best interest ... if, before we have new, big projects come to town, if we push the pause button, take the time that we need to give it some deliberate thought and put some ordinances in place ...”

He added, if the six-month moratoriums pass at town meeting, the select board can, if needed, extend either.

The board updated town fees. View them at alna.maine.gov. On a suggestion from resident Beth Whitney, selectmen included an annual, $25 business license fee.

Selectmen expect to take up the town meeting warrant at their 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22 meeting at the town office and on Zoom.

A fire department budget proposal presented Feb. 8 included what department officials said were inflation-driven utility and maintenance hikes; a smaller ask for call pay due to fewer calls in 2022; and, in a separate warrant question, the department seeks less this year for the length of service award program; together, the two warrant articles ask for $3,500 less than last year, Whitney, the department’s president, explained. 

In a warrant article for town salaries and stipends, the fire department requests the chief’s yearly stipend be $6,000, up $1,000 from last year; assistant chief, $4,500, up $500; fire captains, $2,000, up $500; and a deputy chief be added, for $2,000. The deputy chief can do the chief’s job, including spending, if the chief cannot, Chief Mike Trask said. “Assistant chief doesn’t quite have that capability, is my understanding, if you’re being technical.”

Pentaleri said town staff might have absentee ballots ready sooner than Feb. 24, the required 30 days before town elections. Due to a broken copier, a date was not yet known, he said. Elections are Friday, March 24; the open town meeting is Saturday, March 25; a meet and greet with candidates will run from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Saturday, March 11.