AUBURN — The Androscoggin County Budget Committee was surprised to learn at its first meeting Wednesday that commissioners may not attend future meetings to help explain the proposed spending plan.

Commission Chairwoman Beth Bell told the committee that requests for information or clarification should be made in writing to the county clerk. The reason for the paperwork, Bell told the committee, is to streamline the process and not inundate the small commission office.

It would also provide a paper trail outlining requests and responses.

She stressed that the form has nothing to do with keeping information from getting back to the committee.

But committee members were troubled by the possibility of reviewing the budget and making decisions on line items without the immediate feedback from commissioners.

Michael Lachance of Lewiston urged commissioners to attend the meetings, saying their input adds to the committee’s understanding of the budget. New committee member Guy Desjardins of Sabattus, the former county sheriff, said department heads appreciated having a commissioner present as backup during their presentations.

When Lachance pressed commissioners if they would attend, Bell said, “We’ll have no further discussion at this time.”

No other commissioner spoke.

Committee members also urged all department heads, Treasurer Robert Poulin and incoming county Administrator Larry Post to attend future meetings.

The meeting began with Bell listing the accomplishments by each county department during the past year in presenting the budget.

The Budget Committee accepted three new members — Desjardins, Steve Bolduc of Mechanic Falls and Shane Bouchard of Lewiston and selected new officers.

Emily Darby of Minot was elected chairwoman, while Lachance will serve as vice chairman after Michael Marcotte, last year’s chairman, and Bouchard declined their nominations.

The Budget Committee will consider the commissioners’ proposed county budget, which is 4.61 percent higher than the past year.

Committee members felt that increase is too high. Belinda Gerry of Auburn said her city had to meet the Consumer Price Index, which was 1.8 percent.

“I can’t support this. It will have to be cut drastically,” Gerry said.

“I look at every penny spent,” Marcotte said. “My job is to cut it down to (1.8 percent.) Lower would be even better.”

The commissioners’ own department budget features the highest increase, at 51.09 percent.

Following the elections, the committee took care of several housekeeping issues on how to conduct its meetings, which will be held at 6 p.m. every Wednesday in the county courthouse. 

Darby warned that some Thursday night meetings may be required to complete the process by the end of November.

Norman Beauparlant of Poland stressed the importance for every Budget Committee member to attend all the meetings because a supermajority of 11 votes out of 14 members is required to make changes to the budget.

With three members absent from the first meeting — Ralph Caldwell of Turner, Jeffrey Wakeman of Durham and Mark Lunt of Lisbon — the committee would have required a unanimous vote of the remaining 11 members to make changes to the budget.

The next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7.

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