INDUSTRY — Town Meeting convened Saturday morning so that voters could elect several town officials. None of the races were being contested, although one selectman opening had no candidate on the ballot.

Dovey Balsam received 46 votes to fill the year remaining on the 3rd selectman position. Michael Senecal had held that office until he moved away.

The 2nd selectman’s position was up for election this year. Robert Geisser had held the position but didn’t complete the nomination papers to put his name on the ballot. He said he didn’t push it because he wanted to see whether anyone else would step up. Geisser received 22 write-in votes. Several other townspeople received one or two votes.

Longtime RSU 9 school board representative Mark Prentiss did not run for re-election this year. Edwin Parker received 55 votes for the three-year term. 

The second part of the annual town meeting lasted just 65 minutes with all articles on the warrant passing. Most of those articles passed quickly with no debate.

While the first article of the afternoon was on the floor, Prentiss received a round of applause for his many years serving on the school board. He is really pleased that Parker will be taking over, but did note that Parker won’t take on the position until July 1. “I’ve still got the whole budget process to go through,” Prentiss said.

There was a bit of discussion on the LD 1 article which asked whether the town would vote to increase the property tax levy limit of $334,739. A note accompanying the article indicated that should every article in the warrant pass, the town’s total tax levy would be $226,087, about $108,650 under last year’s tax amount. The article passed in a written vote by 22-10.

Voters also authorized the spending of $75,000 for summer roads and a like amount for winter roads. There was some discussion about the overdrafts in both of those accounts last year. Some voters felt that more money should be asked for first and not afterward.

Ireland said the overage for summer roads was because of heavy rains. “We couldn’t raise enough money to fix the roads the way they should be,” he said.

Ireland spoke of the 5-year plan that was implemented a few years ago to do work on some town roads and suggested it is time to develop another long-term road plan. The town has received an estimate of $142,000 for work on Federal Row.

No money for fireworks was included in the warrant because the Fire Department has decided that it is too much work for them.

After the passage of the final article, Amy Palmer invited all residents to attend a free Italian dinner from 4:30-6:30 p.m Friday, March 20, at the Industry Town Hall. Members of the Industry Community Kitchen group are hosting the supper as a way to thank the town for its support.

Palmer said the Community Kitchen is thinking about doing a community event on the Fourth of July. Anyone with ideas or those interested in helping should contact a member of that group.