Input sought from voters about moving future town meetings to Saturday

By Bill Pearson
Staff Writer

    GREENVILLE — Besides voting on the school budget, residents will be asked to ponder the fate of another question during the state’s referendum election. Town officials have added a non-binding question to the ballot requesting voter input about moving the annual town meeting from the first Monday in June to the first Saturday of the month.

    Town officials have held straw votes at past town meetings to gauge residents’ support for changing the date. The board voted on May 15 to conduct the straw vote during the June 11 state referendum election. The selectmen also finalized the June 3 town meeting’s warrant.
    Residents will gather at the high school at 6 p.m. to consider the 16 articles regarding the educational budget and 29 municipal articles. The proposed municipal budget is $2,118,608 which reflects a $30,181 increase from this year’s spending. The Greenville School Board has recommended a $3,320,622 budget which is $20,000 less than this year’s.
    The selectmen are also looking at changing how the town and school committee put their budgets together. Both have their own auditor, but the selectmen are considering use of the same person for both audits.
    “The selectmen are thinking about getting together with the school board to discuss having a single town auditor. We have two now,” said Town Manager Gary Lamb. “In their mind that’s spending more money on audit services then we need to.”
    In other action, the selectmen chose the six recipients of the $250 Craft Sheridan Scholarships. Deserving students who demonstrate a financial need are eligible for the post-secondary scholarships. Students who plan on pursuing a nursing career or attending a trade school are eligible for the scholarship. The recipients will be announced on June 9 during the graduation exercises.
    Lamb also updated the board on a group of five elementary school students’ participation in the Destination Imagination competition. The Greenville team won the state competition on April 6 of the event once known as Odyssey of the Mind. They traveled last week to Knoxville, Tenn. to compete in the global tournament.
    The team is comprised of Lily Kreider, Andrew Pierce, Aubrey and Lila Kronholm, and Billy Stern. The team is managed by Sarah Stern. The team raised $6,800 in about a month’s time to fund their trip. The team conducted a series of fundraisers which included a bottle drive, an auction, yard sale, food sale, chicken barbecue, live auction and field games.
    The team also received donations from local businesses and community members. The students returned home on Sunday.
    The selectmen’s meeting concluded with them entering into an executive session to discuss Lamb’s mid-year evaluation. They will further discuss the town manager’s contract at a later date. Lamb has served as town manager for the past 2.5 years.
    The selectmen will meet next at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5 in the municipal office.