AVON – Residents will gather for the annual town meeting Saturday to vote on $234,000 in municipal expenditures and to fill a seat held by a longtime member of the Board of Selectmen.
Selectman Greta Espeaignnette does not intend to run for her seat this year, after nine years of serving as First Selectman. Candidates for the three-year term will be nominated for the floor, as well as candidates for four, 1-year positions: Treasurer, Tax Collector Constable and Road Commissioner.
Selectmen are also proposing combining a number of open deputy positions into a single, part-time position, specifically the deputy Tax Collector, Town Clerk and Treasurer positions, as part of an effort to expand town office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. An additional $11,500 is proposed to be raised and appropriated to cover that cost.
Those funds are included in the proposed $234,840 municipal budget, down $45,789 from the previous year. That decrease is mostly attributable to reductions in appropriations for road work and a replacement bridge and culvert on the Bob Orbeton Road.
This year’s plan, according to the town report, is to pave a newly-improved gravel section of the Mt. Blue Road, with the majority of excise tax money going to that project.
Also on the warrant is an article that would reduce the setbacks for construction around Mt. Blue Pond to the state-required 250 feet. The reduction in setback distance relates to Mt. Blue Pond no longer serving as the area’s drinking water source.
The March 21 town meeting will begin at 9 a.m. at the town hall.
