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Old-fashioned town meeting to decide department budgets' fate

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LEBANON - Lebanon residents will need to put aside their golf clubs, fishing poles and weed whackers on the first Saturday of summer if they want to affirm their decision earlier this month that three town department budgets are too costly.

For the first time in more than 25 years the voters of Lebanon will get a chance to see old-fashioned town government in action on June 25 when a Special Open Town Meeting will be held to decide whether to approve or reject the revised budgets of three town department rejected by voters earlier this month.

The three departments in question are the town's Fire and EMS (rejected 614-347), the transfer station (482-474) and code enforcement (590-375).

Many had hoped to have another secret ballot like town voters had earlier this month, but to do that selectmen would have had to set the date 45 days prior to the vote.

Selectmen Chair Christine Torno said on Monday with the affected departments needing new funds authorized by residents by July 1 - the start of the next fiscal year - an open town meeting became the only option.

Torno said no moderator is in place yet, but one would be picked prior to the meeting.

The Special Open Town Meeting will be held starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 25, and will go "as long as it takes," Selectman Royce Heath added.

Meanwhile, the three revised line item budgets for fire and EMS, transfer station and code enforcement will be attached to the warrant for all Town Meeting voters to refer to the day of the voting, selectmen decided.

The meeting, as of today, is set to be held at the Lebanon Elementary School, where usually some 100 or so show up for deliberative sessions or candidate nights.

Almost 1,000 ballots were cast at the May 10 vote.

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