Corrected: The amounts proposed for the fire truck reserve and parking lot reserve were inverted in the original posting and are corrected below:

Alna voters will consider paying firefighters more to respond to calls. It would better reflect their skilled labor and might help the volunteer department keep members, Fire Chief Mike Trask said Monday about the proposed raise from $15 to $20 an hour.

Residents head to the polls Saturday to decide that question, other budget items, two selectmen contests and a proposed change in shoreland zoning. 

The shoreland one has drawn debate, letters, flyers and, like Saturday’s elections, lawn signs. Its outcome might be close, according to First Selectman Melissa Spinney. Asked via text which items, if any, does she expect will have close margins, Spinney responded: “Hopefully none! But with all the misinformation out there (article) 27 may be close.”

The article would add “permanent structures with functionally water-dependent uses,” with a National Resources Protection Act permit where required, to the “piers, docks, wharfs, bridges and other structures and uses extending over or below the normal high-water line or within a wetland” part of a table in the shoreland zoning ordinance. Resident Ralph Hilton has said the change he petitioned for last fall seeks consistency in the ordinance. Opponents have argued the change could impact the Sheepscot River, and have said a look at the whole ordinance should precede any changes to it.

As for the call pay question, Trask said most of the firefighters lose money when they leave work to respond. A pay hike is part of Trask’s 10-year plan; volunteer firefighters do the same job as full-time ones, he added. “They face all the same requirements (and) have to do the same training.” 

Trask seeks an $85,492 department budget, up $1,005 from last year, according to information that accompanied the warrant. 

Among other warrant items, selectmen propose getting a civil engineer for repairs to Cross Road and possibly others; and, again this year, putting $35,000 on reserve for a fire truck and $10,000 on reserve to fix the fire station’s parking lot.

Alna will elect second and third selectmen, a road commissioner and a Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit board member. The elections and, due to the pandemic, referendum town meeting are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 27 at the fire station on Route 218. Or vote early, across the road: The town office is open for voting from 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday, March 25 and 8 to noon Friday, March 26.