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With budget passed, Fremont looks ahead

By Sarah A. Wise
NL Staff Writer
21 June 2007 — Fremont’s budget for the 2007-2008 was unanimously approved at the June meeting on Tuesday night, but members are already looking at ways they can continue to make improvements to make the town more efficient.

Town Administrator Kerry McDuffie told the board that, though some compromises had to be made, he was happy with the budget overall.

“Overall, it’s not a perfect budget, but it’s a pretty good budget,” he said.

Mayor Devone Jones agreed. “Looking at where we’ve come from and where we are now, I think this budget will help us go ahead and move forward.”

Mr. McDuffie said that he did want the town to look at having a differential rate on utilities for in-town and out-of-town residents, but that he could present that information as a budget amendment later on.

Several aldermen brought up a request to fund ditch maintenance, but Mr. McDuffie said that he felt it would be best to use inmate labor to do the work. However, that could not be done until August.

The public was given a chance to comment on the budget at the opening of the meeting, but no one chose to speak.

The aldermen unanimously approved the budget. However, Mr. McDuffie said he may be able to bring the board a proposal concerning differential rates as early as next week.

After passing the budget, the board moved on to the regular business of the meeting.

The Fremont Library, another hot topic as of late, was discussed several times during the meeting.

Mayor Jones announced that the Friends of the Fremont Library had held a barbecue chicken dinner this past Friday to raise funds for the library, and the meal was an overwhelming sucess. The group began serving plates at 10:30, and were sold out by noon. The dinner raised almost $800 for the library, and Mayor Jones said the group is planning another dinner since this one was such a sucess.
The Friends of the Fremont Library also issued a request to the board to establish a process for naming rooms in the library. They wish to have donors who contribute at a certain level to have the option of naming a room in honor or memory of someone. However, they sought the town’s input since the facility is a town-owned building.

The aldermen expressed support of the project, but felt that it should be a responsibility of the Friends to establish the guidelines. They voted to allow the Friends to make a recommendation on what the process would be, and they as a board would then officially endorse it.

The board of aldermen also discussed changing a town ordinance regarding lawn maintenance.

Currently, the ordinance does not allow the town to reprimand any home that has an overgrown lawn until the grass reaches 24 inches in height. The town can then issue a warning to the homeowner, and if he or she does not remedy the problem, a hearing is set for 10 days later. After the hearing, the homeowner has 15 days to cut the grass before the town can take care of it and charge the homeowner.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Mr. McDuffie proposed changing several aspects of the ordinance. First of all, he requested dropping the height limit to 12 inches rather than 24. He also recommended giving the citizen seven days to act, rather than 15.

The change, he said, would help keep the town looking better.

“But the downside,” he said, “is that we’re probably going to end up cutting more lots.”

Alderman W.T. Smith asked why the town had to have a hearing before going in and cutting the grass themselves.

Mr. McDuffie explained that if the town were to cut the grass and make the homeowner pay for the work without first holding a hearing, it would be considered seizing property without due process, which violates a citizen’s constitutional rights.

Alderman Harold Cuddington requested that trimming the lawn also be included in the ordinance, because he said he had seen yards that would be cut, but growth around the edges were so bad that sometimes you couldn’t even see a fire hydrant.

The aldermen will take a vote on the ordinance next week at a called meeting.

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