HOULTON, Maine — Two incumbents and a newcomer to the political arena garnered seats on the Town Council on Election Day.
Voters also turned the area's proposed regional school consolidation plan.
And, during the group’s first official meeting, the panel elected Paul Cleary as council chairman.
It was a five-way race for three open seats on the council. Town Clerk Cathy O’Leary said Thursday that incumbents Walter Goodrich and Sue Tortello retained their seats. Brian Donnelly nudged aside Philip Bernaiche and Carl Lord Jr. to secure the final position.
Incumbents Cynthia Hillman-Forbush and Elizabeth Anderson were re-elected to the SAD 29 board of directors, and Lisa A. Harvey also won a seat on the panel.
Residents Galen Hogan and James F. McPartland were cho-sen to fill slots on the Houlton Water Co. board of directors.
Leigh Cummings Jr. of Houlton will fill the vacant seat on the board of directors of the Cary Library.
Voters also soundly rejected a proposed regional school consolidation plan, 1,922 to 663.
If the proposal had passed, SAD 29 in Houlton, SAD 70 in Hodgdon, SAD 14 in Danforth, Community School District 9 in Dyer Brook and the municipal units of Hersey, Moro Plantation, Orient and Bancroft would have formed the Tri-County Regional School Unit.
No one was running for the three open seats on the board of budget review, so write-in candidates Mitchell Holmes, Rick Kelley and James Pinard will hold those positions.
The new council held its organizational meeting on Wednesday afternoon. In concert with choosing Cleary as chairman, Council Nancy Ketch was chosen to serve as the group’s secretary.
On 11/7/08 at 7:18 PM,
outofstater wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Ok, so what happens now regarding school consolidation?
On 11/10/08 at 9:03 AM,
wensdayschild123 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
Good question outofstater.
We learned almost to the penny what it would cost if we did consolidate but little or no information on what it would cost if we refused consolidation. I'm still facinated that this was put to a vote with only having half of the story told by the individuals, the administrators, that would run the chance of either being demoted or dismissed if consolidation went through. Now that we have jerked our knees, I'd sure like to know what the future holds for those of us who will have to pay under the states' imposed penalty for not consolidating.
On 11/10/08 at 9:36 PM,
RenMike00 wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
It would never work.....too many rivalries with these schools! Keep it the way it is.
On 11/11/08 at 5:02 PM,
mouthyshire wrote:
Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
The penalty that Houlton would receive is $195,000.00 for not joining the RSU. It started out at $68,000.00 but when Gendron and Baldacci realized that it was cheaper to take the penalty then to join they changed there way of issueing a penalty. This is the problem with the whole school consolidation plan nobody knows anything about it, not even Gendron. She has spent about 18 million dollars on accountants, lawyers, and consultants to save $36,000,000.00 off her fy07-08 budget and she still doesnt have the answers. This plan is flawed and in the end the town of Houlton alone faced a $974,000.00 increase in school cost if nothing changed. When I say nothing changed, thats based on this year valuation numbers. If valuatiion goes up the cost would be more.
Post a comment about this story
You must be logged in to post a comment.
click here to log in.
