MECHANIC FALLS — The Town Council voted 5-0 Monday to recommend that residents vote “no” on the Androscoggin County Charter amendment on election day.

Councilman Stephen Bolduc,  Nancy Richard’s replacement as the town’s representative on the county Budget Committee, said that his experience in dealing with County Commissioners – or not dealing with them due to their absence from the Budget Committee’s deliberations as it reviewed this year’s budget – has been eye opening.

“I don’t know how Nancy did it for 12 years,” Bolduc said. “They want to make more (money) than the Lewiston Council that meets weekly and really does some work. They feel entitled, they feel that they deserve.”

In a separate, but related action, Council members agreed unanimously to press on with the lawsuit challenging the County Commissioners’ assertion that they, not the county Budget Committee, have final say over their own salaries and benefits.

The council also agreed that it had no choice but to authorize spending more than the $287 the town was originally assessed for the lawsuit. The $15,000 originally raised to support the suit for 12 of the 14 towns has been used.

“We’re on board for the long haul,” Councilman Lou Annance said.

In other business, Town Manager Koriene Low said she was concerned about the Mechanic Falls Historical Society’s ability to keep using the former Congregational Church building on Elm Street as its headquarters.

“We (Low and John Hawley, former town manager) met with society board members. It appears they may have no more than $2,000 in the books,” Low said. “I think it’s time for intervention by the council.”

Low said she didn’t see how they were going to heat the building this winter and suggested they should find a safer place to store the many documents, records and artifacts, many of them donated.

Low noted that the town owns the building and ultimately is responsible for it.

“There needs to be a frank conversation about what’s going on,” Hawley said.

With the heating season underway, the council agreed that it should meet with the Historical Society’s board of directors before Dec. 7, the council’s next regularly scheduled meeting.

The council agreed to hold a special meeting on Monday, Nov. 23, and suggested Low might see if she could review the Historical Society’s financial records before the meeting.

Low also reported that paving work on Mitchell and Water streets, as well as Third Avenue, should be completed by this Friday to wrap up a successful summer paving program.

Low said she expected that Federal Emergency Management Agency officials will be in town Nov. 19 to review the culvert replacement project on Lane Road. Lane Road has a history of being damaged every few years due to runoff, but, with the new, properly sized culvert in place during this September’s heavy rain storm, it held up well. This should please FEMA officials, Low said.

Low also noted that it appeared that the Maine Department of Transportation had cut its financial support for Androscoggin County Council of Governments by 75 percent, which could ultimately affect the town, if it were to lose the person who has supported the town in promoting projects like the Five Corner reconstruction.