The Alna appeals board Jan. 8 eyed potential fixes and improvements to appeals board rules and how to approach that work.

According to the discussion at the town office and over Zoom, numerous Alna ordinances say things about the appeals board and do not all jive. If the board proposes changes to the appeals board ordinance and those parts of other ordinances are not also addressed, alternate member Dan Weeks said, "We're setting ourselves up."

Chair Jonathan Villeneuve agreed. "I'd rather do this right than do this fast." Members discussed a possible joint session with the planning board on the ordinance work.

Villeneuve floated one idea he said "there might be wisdom in," but that he was "not married to." He described a parallel approach, drafting the "bare minimum of typos and things we know need to change," while also doing an "exhaustive search" pursuing a possible "overhaul" of the ordinance, looking to other towns and maybe Maine Municipal Association for a model.

"Over the years, I've seen ... a lot of effort go into changing ordinances, and then it gets to the town meeting, and they get voted down," Villeneuve said. "And so this could possibly be a solution, to hedge our bets if we can't find a model ordinance in time to replace our ordinance wholesale, we could fall back on the improved edits" to propose, he said.

Members voiced support.They also discussed maybe accomplishing some things through bylaws, which participants said do not take a town vote like an ordinance does.

Weeks, the panel's newest appointee, said, as part of his learning, he has looked at five or six towns' appeals board ordinances, "and they're all over the map." Some are very specific, and Alna's is probably one of the less specific, Weeks said. He recalled one town's having seven different applications, covering "every possible permeation" of appeal.

The board recently kept Villeneuve as its chair and Mary Bowers as secretary; and decided its meetings and hearings will be announced at least seven days in advance, via the town website and town email list, and postings at the town office and post office.