WILTON — Voters in Wilton will be asked June 9 to weigh in on whether the town should collaborate with Jay on police services.
The Board of Selectpersons set the date during its meeting Tuesday. The board also heard a brief report on the Franklin County budget process and received an update on renovations at MaineHealth Franklin Hospital in Farmington.
Voters will have four choices on the nonbinding police collaboration ballot, which asks: “Which of the following police collaboration options should the Select Board explore further?”
The options:
- Take no action and keep the existing separate departments.
- Contract with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office for policing.
- Contract with one town to provide police services for both towns.
- Create a quasi‑municipal corporation governed by both towns.
Board Chair David Leavitt stressed that the vote is an “advisory action” and does not require the Board of Selectpersons to pursue collaboration.
He said residents will not be allowed to vote for more than one option.
The vote will be held in conjunction with the statewide primary election.
The action by the Board of Selectpersons follows an April 1 public meeting at which a straw poll showed residents favoring creation of a corporation to serve both towns. The straw poll results were 17 in favor of forming a corporation, four for one town contracting with the other and one for contracting with the Sheriff’s Office.
The Jay Select Board has already voted to ask Wilton to contract its police work to Jay as a first step toward forming a quasi‑municipal corporation.
Wilton Selectwoman Tiffany Maiuri told the board that the Franklin County Commission will meet with the county Budget Advisory Committee to draw up a final budget. Maiuri represents Wilton on the committee.
The commissioners voted earlier Tuesday to meet with the Budget Advisory Committee to work out the county budget. State law, which sets out different processes for county budgets around the state, requires the commissioners to send a budget to the committee for revisions.
County Administrator Amy Bernard said the Budget Advisory Committee must choose a chair before it can meet with the commissioners.
“The commissioners will reach out (to Wilton and the other towns) soon and will act soon,” Maiuri said.
Leavitt said he had heard the county budget will increase by 14 percent this year.
Maiuri replied that the hike would be “14 to 18 percent, from what I hear.”
“I don’t know how the county can think people can stand 10 to 15 percent increases year after year,” Leavitt said. “We do better than that, and so does the school district.”
On March 31, Superintendent Christian Elkington proposed a budget increase of 1.5 percent to the Regional School Unit 9 board of directors.
In other matters, Barbara Sergio, president of MaineHealth Franklin Hospital, told the Wilton board that the number of patients served by the hospital has increased to 19,000 a year, up from 13,000 in 2018.
“I think we have planned adequately for the increase,” she said.
Sergio said the hospital is finishing the second of five phases of renovations to accommodate the increased traffic. When the second phase wraps up, the emergency department will have expanded to 18 patient rooms, up from seven. She said she expects phase two to be completed by Memorial Day.
Phase three is expected to begin this fall, she said, and could cause major disruption because the main lobby will be closed. She said the hospital is working on ways “to get people through the lobby” during the renovations.
The board unanimously approved two agreements for sharing public works equipment. Leavitt said the first, with Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls, “is kind of like mutual aid.” Mutual aid among towns is used primarily by fire departments to help one another fight major fires. He said a similar agreement that had been in effect for a couple of years had lapsed and needed to be reauthorized.
“Sometimes one town has equipment others don’t have,” Leavitt said.
When a town provides equipment, such as a backhoe, to another town, the borrowing town will provide the operator if it has a qualified one. If not, the lending town can supply an operator.
Leavitt and Town Manager Maria Greeley both said the agreements involve no compensation.
“When you look at it (over time), it all balances out,” Maiuri said.
The second agreement, between Wilton and Farmington, is intended more for emergencies than for routine sharing of equipment, Leavitt said.
The board unanimously approved liquor licenses for Saltmarsh Farms Inc., which runs the Calzolaio Pasta Co. restaurant, and for Cloutier Wilton Golf Club LLC.
Greeley noted that nomination papers for two seats on the Board of Selectpersons and two on the RSU 9 board of directors are scheduled to close Friday, April 10. The Town Office is open until noon Fridays.
The board’s next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21, at 6 p.m. at the Town Office, 158 Weld Road.
