Nicole Labbe emerges from behind the curtain of the voting booth at the Rome Community Center after casting a ballot in the local election on March 13, 2020. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel file
ROME — Residents will decide who represents them on the selectboard, as all three positions are contested, and vote on four referendums, including funding for a road project, whether to allow adult-use marijuana stores, a food sovereignty ordinance and whether to withdraw from the Kennebec Regional Development Authority during the annual Town Meeting on Friday and Saturday.
The 81-article meeting warrant includes a budget totaling $946,514.50, a $2 decrease from last year’s budget
Residents can hit the polls at the town office Friday from noon-8 p.m. for the municipal election. The town meeting is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. at Belgrade Central School.
Residents will decide four referendum questions. The first is whether to raise and appropriate $202,588 for the reconstruction of Mercer Road, Wooster Hill Road and Crystal Springs Lane to complete the two-year Wooster Hill Road Project.
In the second, voters will decide whether to authorize adult-use marijuana stores and certain use marijuana cultivation facilities.
The third is the Rome Food Sovereignty Ordinance, and the fourth is whether to withdraw from the Kennebec Regional Development Authority which operates FirstPark in Oakland.
Other items include upgrading the current selectmen’s assistant position from part-time to a 32-hour per week administrative position with full benefits.
“Many towns our size that do not have a Town Manager leverage a full time Admin to support not only the Selectmen but the other Boards, Departments and Committees,” First Selectman Monica McCarthy wrote in an email. “Rome has more active committees now than ever, and an expanding online presence, so the job has grown and so has the need for skilled administrative support. We’re excited about the opportunity to provide a good job with benefits that will improve both our internal communication and our external communication with you and our residents and visitors. It is also likely that we will have more interest from qualified residents to run for municipal office if this support is in place.”
The town is asking to fund an 18-24 month comprehensive planning process working with the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments.
The town’s Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to recommend approval for most articles on the warrant, but did dissent on a few budget items.
The board dissented against Article 39 to change the term and method of selection of the town clerk from being a one-year, elected term to an annual appointment, and Article 40 to raise $152,192 for municipal officers and officials’ salaries. The board also dissented against Article 45 to raise and appropriate $2,500 for the town’s emergency management agency, recommending instead $200 by a 2-1 vote.
Rome’s Board of Selectmen hold office for one-year terms. McCarthy faces Paul Anderson for first selectman, incumbent Lois Stratton faces Larry DiPietro Jr. for second selectman and incumbent Kelly Archer faces Richard LaBelle for third selectman.
Incumbent property Tax Collector/Treasurer Tammy Lyons, Town Clerk Julie Morrison, Road Commissioner Carroll Bubar and Regional School Unit 18 board member Andrew Cook are running for their spots unopposed.
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