Penobscot approves $100k for fire truck at town meeting

Voters also help bring transfer station into compliance, approve nonprofit donations, and give standing ovations for those who served the town

Some 70 voters gathered for Penobscot’s annual town meeting on March 2, held in the gym of the Penobscot Community School. Photo by John Boit.

March 4, 2026

By John Boit

PENOBSCOT–Voters in Penobscot moved briskly through five dozen warrant articles at their March 3 annual town meeting, with short discussions on the cost of a new fire truck and pausing to hear the story of how the town is about to bring its transfer station into compliance after 40 years.

The 70 voters–in a town of approximately 1,200 residents–approved a $1.04 million municipal budget and a $2.5 million school budget.

Fire truck funding

Voters agreed to appropriate $100,000 toward the purchase of a new fire truck, with $50,000 drawn from the town’s more than $1 million in surplus funds and $50,000 raised from taxation.

The new truck is expected to arrive in 2027 at a total cost of about $575,000. So far, the town has paid for the chassis and set aside reserve funds, bringing the total committed to roughly $240,000.

Select board members said the town continues to explore grant opportunities to help pay for the truck, which will replace a fire engine from the 1990s. The town has contacted Maine’s congressional and state delegations about possible government funding.

Beyond the fire truck discussion, voters approved budgets for snow and ice removal ($265,000), transfer station operations ($95,000), town road capital reserves ($70,000), and numerous smaller accounts covering insurance, town hall administrative costs, recreation, cemeteries and animal control.

They also approved salaries for town positions, including $10,000 for the selectboard chair and $6,000 each for the town’s two other select board members; $16,000 for the tax collector; $19,000 for the treasurer; $23,400 for the town clerk; $1,000 for the registrar; $5,000 for the fire chief; $29,000 for the deputy tax collector/treasurer; and $6,000 for the deputy town clerk.

Select board chair Harold Hatch speaks. Seated next to him are select board members Phil Rapp and Sara Leighton. Sherm Hutchins, standing, served as moderator. Photo by John Boit.

Transfer station out of compliance since 1986

Voters also approved $30,000 from surplus funds to cover costs associated with obtaining a license from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to operate the town’s transfer station.

The issue, residents learned, dates back decades.

Select board chair Harold Hatch explained that in the 1980s, former select board chair Bing Gross had attempted to secure a DEP license following the closure of the town landfill, then referred to as a town dump. Gross completed the application but could not initially locate the deed for the property. He submitted paperwork without it, and the state returned the application.

“Several years later, Bing’s wife, Betty, found the deed in a box of stuff in the old selectman’s office. So Bing stuck a copy of the deed in an envelope and sent it to Augusta,” Hatch said.

But by then, personnel at DEP had changed, and the application apparently stalled.

“Four years ago, we found out that we were unlicensed. We’ve been unlicensed since 1986,” Hatch said, eliciting chuckles from the crowd.

Now the town, after working with the DEP to conduct soil testing and survey work, is on the cusp of coming into compliance. Hatch said that means the town can “put it to bed and be done with it.” 

Community donations

Voters also approved several donations to nonprofits, known as “third-party requests.”

Voters approved donations to the following organizations: Eastern Area Agency on Aging ($2,800), Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry (($750), Penobscot Day Celebration and Fireworks ($1,500), Blue Hill Society for Aid to Children ($2,200), Penobscot Historical Society ($2,500), Hospice Volunteers of Hancock County ($600), LifeFlight Foundation ($568), Maine Coast Heritage Trust ($250), Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries ($250), and Community Action in Aroostook, Washington and Hancock Counties ($454).

The donations passed at town meeting total $14,372. Voters the previous day had also approved by ballot vote a $5,132 donation to the Blue Hill Public Library, bringing the total amount of taxpayer-funded support to local and statewide nonprofits to $19,504.  

Jim Henry, a former school teacher and coach, receives a standing ovation from the crowd. He is also on the cover of the town’s annual report. Photo by John Boit.

Standing Ovations

At various times in the town meeting, Hatch recognized officials and a town resident for their commitment to Penobscot, all of whom received standing ovations. Those included outgoing town clerk Sally Bridges, who has held the position for 10 years; outgoing selectboard member Phil Rapp, whose engineering acumen Hatch said has been especially helpful on town infrastructure projects; and Jim Henry, a longtime school teacher and coach who also at one time ran the town’s general store.

The meeting was moderated by Sherm Hutchins, a former state representative who has officiated at some 150 town meetings throughout his career, both in Penobscot and elsewhere. 

After about two hours of discussion and voting, residents adjourned quickly, hastening out the door as a fresh snow fell outside.