Wilton Town Manager Perry Ellsworth, left, and Chairperson of the Select Board David Leavitt, discuss with the town of Wilton on Tuesday, June 20, what the purpose is of some articles at the town meeting. Brian Ponce/Franklin Journal

WILTON — The annual Town Meeting was held  6 p.m. Tuesday, June 20, at the Academy Hill School located at 585 Depot Street.

The meeting moderated by former Maine State Representative and Weld Selectperson Tom Skolfield.

Sixty articles were presented to the participants with roughly 50 Wilton and non-Wilton residents in attendance. All 60 articles, which included budget items and other critical topics such as funding for the water transmission line project and the blueberry festival, were discussed and passed by the town.

Article five, authorized the Board of Selectperson to issue bonds or notes in the name of the Town of Wilton not to exceed $7,448,000, which Town Manager Perry Ellsworth stated was important in relation to the water transmission line project.

“This is a loan which we have to bond through [Maine Rural Water Association],” Ellsworth stated. “This will replace and repair the water line that’s about 100 years old.”

One audience member asked if they would see another increase in water and sewer rates to help pay off the loan, which Ellsworth confirmed.

“You’re going incur another increase to be able to pay off this loan,” he said.

According to Ellsworth, Wilton water rates had been half of what other towns were paying and remained that way for two decades, which has been a detriment to the water transmission line project.

“It’s unfortunate that it went 20 years without raising the rates to save dollars,” he stated to the audience. “It was the right thing to do in some cases, but in other cases, when you know that you’re going to have to replace a line at some point, [it wasn’t].”

The Wilton Select Board got an update from Jim Lord of Dirigo Engineering on Tuesday, June 6, where he stated the next step for the board to take until plans are finalized is to set up a bond council.

“Your bond counsel is going to basically walk you through all of the USDA requirements to get interim funding set up,” Lord said at this previous meeting.

Funding for the water transmission line project, which will replace the transmission line running from Varnum Pond, will be done using a loan from the USDA. The $7.3 million loan is coupled with a $2.2 grant, and the grant money can not be accessed until the loan is depleted. Repayment on the loan is estimated to begin in 2027 after the completion of the project and will amount to $330,000 annually for 30 years.

Interest on the loan, according to Select Board Chair David Leavitt, was locked in at 1.5%.

Moderator Tom Skolfield, top center, hands the microphone to Chairperson of the Wilton Select Board David Leavitt, center bottom, to better explain certain details to the whole room on Tuesday, June 20. Unfortunately, the microphone would not work, so the town meeting proceeded without it. Brian Ponce/Franklin Journal

“Today, that interest rate would be at least four and a half percent,” Leavitt told the audience.

Article six gave the Select Board the authority to make decisions pertaining to ATV access routes in the town of Wilton. The article comes after a public hearing that was held on Tuesday, May 16, regarding the ATV access route on Temple Road.

A vote to keep the ATV access route on Temple Road was passed but would be revisited in a year if the complaints from residents on Temple Road continue to persist.

With the article, Ellsworth wanted to give the town the opportunity to have more involvement in the decision-making process regarding ATV access routes.

“The Select Board felt that they needed to add this article to the town meeting, which would then credential them to be able to do it from now,” Ellsworth said. “They wanted to solidify the fact that it could be a Select Board decision versus having to go to annual town meeting every year for discussion.”

Leavitt stated that, if the Select Board were granted the permission by the town to handle ATV access roads from now on, a process would be put in place that would require a certain number of residents that live on the road to decide if they wanted to make their road an ATV access road.

Ellsworth stated to the audience that if they choose, they can have ATV access roads discussed once a year at the annual town meeting to allow greater transparency, but he felt that was not the best option.

“You can do a once a year at the annual town meeting, if that’s what you’d like to do,” he stated. “I don’t think it’s constructive use of your time when you have elected officials who are giving their due diligence to what they’re trying to do.”

Articles seven though forty-seven were regarding the town’s budget, which was finalized by the Select Board and the Financial committee on Monday, May 22, with only a four percent increase from the previous year’s budget. All budget items were passed.

Among the budget items was Article 35, regarding town events and the Blueberry Festival. Some $15,000 will be allocated from the budget for the Blueberry Festival and other town events, but one audience member asked about the increase from the previous year, which was $13,000.

According to Ellsworth, the Select Board hopes this will be the last year money is allocated for the Blueberry Festival, that it will sustain itself in following years from the revenue generated from the festival.

“There are multiple issues that we tackled when I came into the office and there are multiple issues yet to be tackled,” he stated. “This happens to be one of them that we have to make the decision how we want to do this in the future.

“Renee [Woodard] did a great job of putting it together last year, and again this year. I know it’s going to be a fun time, but we have got to figure out exactly why we spend the dollars and how we spend the dollars,” he added.

Woodard took on the role of part part-time events coordinator to oversee the Blueberry Festival and other events in 2021 after Wilton Blueberry Festival Board of Directors with Chairwoman Shannon Smith stepped down.

Article 46 appropriated $15,000 from the Comfort Inn Omnibus Municipal Tax Increment Financing [TIF] District to pay for an event coordinator. One audience member asked why an event coordinator was needed.

“Why do we need an events coordinator?” Ellsworth responded. “Do you want to have a blueberry festival? Do you want to have any other events in town during the summer? That requires an events coordinator because there aren’t enough volunteers to take care of it.”