Boothbay Harbor selectmen voted 4-1 Oct. 28 to accept a purchase order for Boothbay Region TV to install a camera system for municipal meetings. Selectman Denise Griffin dissented stating she was concerned the board was not putting the project out to bid.

“We asked Cody (Mitchell) for a good faith best offering or best bid on this and from looking at the quote, the service or labor part is extremely discounted,” said Chair Mike Tomko. “This represents something I think he said maybe a third to a half as much as what we would be charged by another (audio/video) company.”

Acting Town Manager Julia Latter said there would be other expenses such as much needed wiring updating and an increase in bandwidth.

Griffin said she feels the project is not an emergency. “I know this will be really, really important to the public, but I'm going to go on record saying I'm not comfortable moving forward with this given that we haven't looked at other options and it wasn't included in the budget.”

Municipal ordinance prosecution

Selectmen voted unanimously to grant Police Chief Bob Hasch permission to serve as municipal ordinance prosecutor and to delegate the responsibility to other officers who attended training with him.

“This has been a need for quite some time, now,” said Hasch. “Most communities are struggling with this issue because district attorney offices are not wanting to prosecute municipal ordinances. We needed a way to do that besides bringing in the town attorney for a lot of money to prosecute maybe a $25 fine.”

Hasch said he and three officers received training to prosecute minor fines such as parking enforcement, skateboarding, fireworks and hunting in restricted areas. The responsibilities will likely also include animal control issues, said Hasch. He predicted the work would not impact his and the others’ workload.

Executive session, announcements

The board had two executive sessions, one to consult legal counsel, the other for personnel. Vice Chair Tricia Warren left and the rest of the board emerged to vote 3-1 to appoint Rosemary Bourrette as an appeals board member and James Farrin as an alternate. Griffin dissented.

Selectmen appointed Tomko and Selectman Wendy Wolf as board representatives to the Joint Economic Development Committee. The board encouraged the public to inquire for the two other seats representing Boothbay Harbor.

According toTown Clerk Michelle Farnham, polls will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the fire department Nov. 5. Absentee ballots are available at the town office until Oct. 31.

Latter announced two vacancies on the Budget Committee. Department heads will start gathering their budgets in November, the committee will circulate a schedule in December and the committee and select board will begin meeting in January to go over the budget, Latter explained.

The Broadband Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 4 in the town office.

Dog licenses are available and are due by Jan. 31.