August 22, 2022 Board of Selectmen Meeting

Poll Worker Shortage, Land for Sale, Invasive Species

Shortage of Republican Party Poll Workers

Town Moderator, Dawn Fernald, informed the board that the town has insufficient Republican poll workers for the September 11 election. Certain jobs at the polls must be balanced by party, so an insufficient number of Republican poll workers could negatively impact the town’s election operation.

Land for Sale by Town

The town is selling off two lots by sealed bid. Read more.

Invasive Species

The board was updated on the ongoing efforts to control invasive variable milfoil in Pawtuckaway Lake. Milfoil has increased its spread on the lake. There is now milfoil at the town beach, most likely caused by people violating the town’s prohibition against launching kayaks and canoes at the town beach.

The Pawtuckaway Lake Improvement Association requested $4,500 in assistance from the town to support its ongoing efforts to contain milfoil. The request was unanimously approved. This funding goes to support the Lake Host program. Lake Hosts provide boat inspections for boats entering and leaving the lake at the Fundy boat launch. While Lake Hosts have previously identified many milfoil-carrying boats about to enter the lake, for the first time this year they found milfoil-carrying boats leaving the lake, risking infecting other lakes.

Traffic at the Fundy boat launch this year has returned to pre-covid levels – down about 25% from its all-time high last year. However, because of overcrowding and insufficient parking at Fundy, an increasing but unknown number of boaters are bypassing the Fundy boat launch and paying the park entrance fee to launch their boats at the park’s campground, where there are no boat inspections.

The board discussed the failure of state government to address this issue and what might possibly done about it. The state owns the lake, but does nothing to maintain the lake’s quality. The state owns over 6,000 square acres of land in town that is not taxed. Previous efforts to involve the state have fallen into the problem that this issue is not the responsibility of any existing department and that the legislature has been unwilling to take up the issue.

Abusive Employees at the Recycling Center

The citizen who previously complained to the board abut abusive treatment at the town’s recycling center followed up with the board about what had been done to address the matter. The board thanked him for making them aware of the matter, but the board does not make personnel issues public, and as such, could not disclose what had been done about the matter.

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