BROWNINGTON – This was the first year in town history that Brownington held their school and town meeting divided in the afternoon.

The rational being that a 6:30 Town Meeting was easier to attend by people getting off of work. The measure was instituted at last year’s Town Meeting.

The school meeting started at one and officially adjourned in 59 minutes despite the debates that punctuated it.  In fact the debates were already starting among the crowd before the meeting had begun.  Starting off the meeting John Kudla was elected moderator in short order and the rest of the agenda was brought to the floor.

The reports of the district officers were approved smoothly.  The board of directors was authorized to borrow money to pay indebtedness and expenses.  Furthermore a consensus authorized the annual salaries of the school directors to stay the same as last year.

The school director was elected from a tiebreaker.  Terry Curtis, Debbie Brunelle, and Larry Chase were all nominated and when the ballots were counted Terry Curtis and Larry Chase both held 17 votes and Debbie Brunelle had 10.  Debbie Brunelle dropped out of the race, and there was another vote and Larry Chase won 25 votes to 19.  Arthur Postman was elected Lake Region Union High School director to finish off the remaining year of a three-year term.

Debate flared up when the school board asked to use $27,500 of the Gymnasium Expansion Fund (created in part by an audit of the special ed department) towards partial payment of the school’s bond.  Resident Terry Curtis asked for discussion and requested the status of the fund in question.

It was shown to the residents during this discussion of the fund that last year the school board decided to use $55,000 to make the first payment on the bond in question (part of a project to redo the school).

Mr. Curtis asked for a paper ballot and was seconded and supported.  The Town Meeting voters decided with a vote of 32 “yeses” to use $27,500 from the fund toward paying off another chunk of the bond.

The school budget was another contested issue.  The proposed amount for the coming school year was $1,324,914 which is a 4 percent increase from last year’s $1,262,364. Again Mr. Curtis raised a debate; he asked whether or not the budget should be rethought because the school puts the cost of each student as lower than what the budget divided by each student would come out to.

“Where does the money go?” Mr. Curtis asked everyone attending the meeting.  School director Chris Myott countered by saying that there is a mandated state government formula that determines the cost of each student and that both the numbers and budget were correct.  The 6,000-dollar discrepancy that Mr. Curtis came up with was part of the necessary formula.

Mr. Myott also said that those inquiring about spending cuts to the education system should rest easy because they “build the budget around those revenues (money given to the town from the state)” and cuts weren’t expected to take place and the budget was of necessary size.

Finally the school budget was given a paper ballot vote and passed 25 to 20.

The school meeting adjourned and neighbors filtered out to eat a late lunch before the town meeting.

Later that evening people were right back at Brownington elementary enjoying the homemade pizza provided by the PTC and getting ready to enter the discussions once again.

After a bit of wit and town humor Mr. Kudla was nominated and voted into the moderator position and the reports of the town officers were approved by voice vote.

Electing town officers took a bit of time with a surprising upset in the selectman’s race.  Bob Montminy, Mike Herman, and Armand Brunelle were nominated for the position.  When the ballots were counted Mike Herman had 21 votes, Armand Brunelle had 23, and Bob Montminy, 44. No one candidate held the majority of 45 votes. A second was called for and the ballots were once again dropped into the box.

Mike Herman won the selectman’s seat with 51 votes over the apparent favorite, Bob Montminy.  The next part lacked much debate and only required the clerical vote to pass. Cheryl Perry was elected as delinquent tax collector, David Chase as lister, Scott Nichols as cemetery commissioner, Adam Brunelle as first constable, Renee Falconer as second constable, Shirley Perry as one auditor and Brandy Robillard as another auditor.  Lewis Glodgett was elected as road commissioner, David Danicheck as a planning commissioner, Larry Fausel as another planning commissioner, and Joan Huguenin as the last planning commissioner and waste management committee member.

The rest of the articles passed with little discussion.  A sum of $102,077 was voted to be appropriated by the town to defray general expenses and $330,260 was approved to be appropriated towards highway purposes.

The Orleans County Sheriff’s Department bid for $10,870 towards increasing expenses was voted down in a 40 to 41 vote.

Like the school meeting before it, the town meeting finished up relatively quickly with relatively little outspoken controversy.  En mass at the end of the three hour meeting, the residents packed up for another year in Brownington.