2006 Towm Meeting (reported by Barb Fernald)

The upstairs hall of the Islesford Neighborhood House was full on Monday as 25 articles were discussed and decided by voters at the annual meeting of the Town of Cranberry Isles. The meeting started at 8:30 a.m. and concluded at 2:30 p.m. with a 1 hour break for lunch. Denise McCormick was elected to the offices of Town Clerk, Town Treasurer, and Collector of Taxes and Excise Taxes for the ensuing year. Ted Spurling, Jr. was elected to another three year term on the school committee. Three people were nominated for the open position of Selectman. Hal Newell, Orville E. Blank, and Aaron Gray. When the first round of ballots was counted, the votes were divided in such a way that none of the candidates had received a majority vote. This required a second vote by ballot which resulted in a second lack of a majority. After two more rounds of balloting, with the same lack of a majority vote, a 10 minute recess was called so that nominees could answer questions from the community. In the fifth round of balloting, Aaron Gray was elected to serve as a Selectman for the next three years. School superintendent, Rob Liebow, answered audience questions about the 6 articles for the school budget, and they all passed as written. Hugh Smallwood and Jason Pickering were each elected to three year terms as members of the Municipal Facilities Commission. Two ordinances were proposed to name streets on Great Cranberry for emergency 911 purposes. One specified street signs and the other did not. As both ordinances passed, the most recently enacted ordinance replaced the first one. (No specific signs.) The article to enact an updated Floodplain Management Ordinance was tabled by a 2/3 majority vote. Voters chose to have the town contribute $5000 in support of the Island Institute Fellow for 2006, and to hold the next annual Town Meeting at the Fire House on Great Cranberry Island on March 12, 2006, at 9 p.m. Each function of the town operations budget was voted on resulting in a total town budget of $1,441,038. During moments of meeting inactivity, while ballots were being counted, several people made announcements and extended “thank yous” to various members of the town. Selectman Dan Lief thanked Denise McCormick for a successful first year as Town Clerk, Eve Harrison thanked Edgar Blank for 3 years of service as a Town Selectman, Courtney Chaplin, on behalf of the Islesford Volunteer Fire Department, thanked: Frances Bartlett for her support in providing breakfasts and a place to stay for the First Responder and EMT instructor, Margaret Blank for her work in organizing the two courses, and all of the people who provided meals to the students during their 12 hour course days. Phil Whitney thanked Carl Brooks for his many hours of work on preparing the street naming ordinance, and Carl thanked Hugh Smallwood for all of the volunteer work he has done for the MFC. As moderator of the meeting, I would like to extend a belated thank you to Nan Hadlock and Barbara Stainton for their tireless work as ballot counters during a meeting with many more than the usual number of ballots to count! Aaron and Erin Gray were hired by the Neighborhood House to cater the lunch and they did an excellent job of providing delicious baked lasagna, salad, bread. Community members contributed a variety of desserts to complete the meal. Several people came from off the island to attend the meeting including Hugh Dwelley from Fairfax, Virginia, Frank Reece from Cambridge, Mass., Lise Pratt from Cape Elizabeth, Sarah Corson from SW Harbor, Eric Sandberg from Trenton, Chris White from Bucksport, Erica Merrill from Mount Desert, Nancy Thurlow and Rob Liebow from the Union 98 Superintendent’s office, Rob Benson from the Seacoast Mission, Sarah Hinckley from the Mount Desert Islander, and Abigail Curtis from the Bangor Daily News.

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