NORWAY — The Board of Selectmen will meet Sept. 6 to write their top goals for the coming year.

The measure was last done September 2010 to give direction to the town manager and remind individual board members what is most important to the board as a whole.

Topping the list has been the stabilization and restoration of the Opera House, which was the primary concern of almost all the board at that time.

“Some things we made progress on and some things we didn’t,” Town Manager David Holt told board members at their meeting last Thursday.

Goal setting has been a way for the board to clarify its priorities.

In addition to the Opera House work, which was the stabilization of the building at that time,other top concerns included supporting local businesses, doing a study of wage and benefits, road repair and improvements and Main Street revitalization among other items.

Since that time, the Opera House has been stabilized and a bid is being awarded this week for the rehabilitation of the 6 first-floor store fronts.

The second most important goal at that time, giving local businesses support, has received less attention and less success has been achieved, said Holt in a report to the board last week. A study of wages and benefits is ongoing as are road repairs and improvements.

Additionally, the board has agreed that it’s important to begin meetings with a flag salute and conduct their business with truthfulness, openness, honesty and respectfulness. Since that time, the board has also added a moment of silence at the beginning of each meeting.

Holt told the board that the document has been useful to him in a number of ways. For example, when the two members of the board determined in 2010 that a study of the wages and benefits was an important goal since no study had been done, employee health care coverage was reduced and the highway departments have unionized. Because of the reminder from the board’s goals, Holt said he recently received and filled out a Maine Municipal Association salary survey which will give Norway access to the salaries and compensations of most Maine towns groups by population. Norway officials will have access to the information for free because they participated in the survey, Holt said.

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