Selectmen make social service allocations

Staff Report

    GUILFORD — The Guilford Board of Selectmen’s Aug. 5 meeting was devoted mostly to routine business, according to minutes of the session.
    One item on the agenda was the board’s decision to allocate social service agency funds at the same level as last year.

    Voters approved spending $8,000 to support various programs at the annual town meeting, but traditionally leave the allocation formula up to the selectmen.
    By a unanimous vote of the board, Pine Tree Hospice will receive $600; American Red Cross, $1,514; Eastern Area Agency on Aging, $1,500; Guilford Historical Society, $1,500; Community Health and Counseling Services, $875; and Womancare, $1,500.
    In other business, the board received a letter from the sole resident of Smith Road, a private way, requesting the name be changed to McAvoy Lane. The request was approved.
    The board also voted to have Duane Huff remove the “decrepit tool shed” at Elmwood Cemetery; and granted a special amusement permit to the Red Maple Inn, as required by the State Fire Marshall’s office, to allow dancing on the premises.
    Goulette commented on the repairs and painting done at the C.H. Lightbody Medical Center by Barry Carleton, calling it “a fine job and the appearance has certainly improved.”
    Goulette also said that Piscataquis River Festival last month was another huge success. “We were again blessed with sunshine, a great parade, pig scramble, water slide, good music, lots of food and craft vendors and fabulous fireworks,” he wrote.
    A preliminary bid for paving sections of Wharff Road and Butter Street had been received, and the board directed Goulette to complete the specifications and solicit bids for the work.
    Goulette also said that he would be attending the Maine Town, City and County Management Association (MTCMA) Institute at Sunday River in Newry this week, and the board nominated Chairman Bill Thompson to act in his absence.