OTISFIELD — Voters will be asked to revise the controversial cell tower ordinance, approve a $1.8 million road bond and OK a municipal budget at the annual town meeting Saturday.

The meeting opens at 9 a.m. at the Community Hall on Route 121.

The 30-article warrant also includes election of a selectman, a road commissioner and a School Administrative District 17 director.

Selectman Hal Ferguson, Road Commissioner Richard Bean Sr. and SAD 17 director Tom Moore have indicated they will accept nominations for re-election.

Voters will be given a choice to approve a plan to repair Powhattan Road for $408,000 or to approve a five-year $1.81 million bond to reconstruct sections of Powhatan, Rayville, Bell Hill, Peaco Hill and Gore roads over two years.

The second proposal would require an average $360,000 annual payment for four years, but only a $13,364 payment in 2016, the first fiscal year.

The overall impact of the bond proposal would raise the property tax rate from $12 per one thousand dollars of assessed value to $13.30, Board of Selectmen Chairman Hal Ferguson said.

If neither proposal is approved, Bean will use $180,000 in the road budget to rehabilitate Powhattan Road from Forrest Edwards Road to Route 121.

Officials said the financial printouts distributed at a recent public hearing were confusing and misleading. The numbers did not add up on the sheets that many people had and several different sets of numbers were distributed.

“There was a major miscommunication,” David Hyer of the Road Study Committee told selectmen at last week’s board meeting.

Officials promised there would be no confusion at Saturday’s meeting.

Budget Committee Chairman Joanie Jacobs said the municipal budget includes an average 3.8 percent increase for Bean and Town Office workers.

The Budget Committee decided to double the contingency fund this year, from $5,000 to $10,000, to build it up.

Jacobs said there are increases in employee benefits, $179,848 to $183,168, and public safety and cemeteries, $148,337 to $151,382.

The Public Works budget is down from $655,000 to $645,000.

Voters will be asked to appropriate $34,000 for the town’s share of design work to repair the Pleasant Lake Dam in Casco. The dam beside Route 121 in Casco is leaking as much as 1,000 gallons of water per minute in a minimum of three places. It controls the level of water in the 4-mile long lake, which lies in both towns.

Voters will also be asked to approve a revised 36-page Wireless Telecommunications Facilities Ordinance, including a major change in the appeals process. The revisions are the direct result of a more than a yearlong battle over the application by U.S. Cellular in 2012 to install a 180-foot communications tower on Scribner Hill, selectmen said.

The Board of Selectmen is submitting a separate warrant article requesting elimination of the Board of Appeals process in any future wireless communication tower application. The board said it will not only expedite the appeal process, but reduce legal costs for the town by sending an appeal directly to Superior Court. The process would only apply to the Wireless Telecommunications Facilities Ordinance.

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