Alna voters on Saturday, March 19 can hike firefighters’ pay, fund prep work toward the town office’s possible move, and change the treasurer from an elected to an appointed job.

They can also leave Wiscasset Ambulance Service for Central Lincoln County (CLC) Ambulance in Damariscotta.

Or they can keep some things, or all of them, as they are for the next year.

The annual, open town meeting at the fire station on Route 218 starts at 10 a.m. Elections, all uncontested, are Friday, March 18, at the fire station from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

It could be the last time Alna elects a treasurer. Selectmen are proposing the switch to hiring, starting in 2017, to ensure that treasurers have an accounting background, First Selectman David Abbott said.

The board is also proposing the town switch to CLC Ambulance. It offered a $4,000, one-year deal; Wiscasset kept its request flat with last year's, at $3,000.

"We recommend CLC. They're very well-organized and they have several ambulances, so we feel it's a better setup," Abbott said.

He was not sure how much debate the ambulance service question will draw, but he expects little if any controversy Saturday. The most likely questions for that, he said, would be the raises for fire officials and firefighters.

Fire Chief Mike Trask has asked for a pay hike from $12 an hour to $18 an hour for firefighters, and for the fire chief to go from $3,000 a year to $5,000; assistant chief, from $2,000 to $4,000; and fire captains, from $500 to $1,500.

In addition, 40 of firefighters' training hours per year would be paid, compared to the current 30 hours; even 40 hours would not cover all the training time that firefighters put in, fire officials have said. 

Selectmen are recommending the 10 hours' added pay, but are not naming an amount to recommend for the department's other pay requests. On the town meeting warrant, the board recommends "some pay adjustment" for officers and "some pay increase" for firefighters.

The board worded its recommendations to leave open the chance for some hikes, rather than none if residents don't support the requests in full, Abbott said.

"That way the town can decide to amend it and they get some increase, or they might get it all, which would be fine. I'm sure they're worth it. We do feel that they deserve an increase, but our thought was that was quite a lot at once," he said.

Fire officials have pointed out that Alna pays $18 an hour for community service and road work, and that the increases will help get and keep members. Alna lost its First Responders in 2015 for lack of team members; the fire department is seeing a slow, net loss in members, Assistant Fire Chief Roger Whitney has said.

Two questions on the warrant would be the first steps toward moving the town office into the fire station. One would authorize the selectmen and the fire department to explore the move's viability, figure the renovation costs and come up with a plan for sharing costs to run the building.

If that question passes, voters will consider funding $10,000 in architectural or engineering work. Neither decision commits the town to the move, Abbott said. That would be decided at a future town meeting, he said.

"Where we are now is an old house," Abbott said in explaining the board's interest in pursuing the idea. "The maintenance costs would be better. (The station is) a much more efficient building, and to just move everything over there with them and have everything in one place is more efficient."

The board has discussed possibly selling the town office and some of its acreage. Like the move, that would also take a future town vote, Abbott said.

If everything on Saturday's warrant passes unamended, the municipal budget would go from this year's $684,317 to $687,334, town officials said. Offsets to proposed hikes include the selectmen's decision not to seek funds this year for maintenance work at the town office, Abbott said. Most of the $10,000 approved last year went unspent, he said.

One question that didn't make the warrant is whether to pass local rules on fireworks use. Town meeting voters last year approved having the planning board or a committee draft fireworks rules for the town to consider this year. The planning board did months of research and took public comment; then the board told selectmen that, unless they wanted to propose adopting the state’s rules, a proposal would likely need to wait.

Selectmen decided recently to allow more time to explore prospects for enforcement. The vote will likely happen in 2017, rather than at a special town meeting this year, in order to get the best turnout for it, Abbott said.