WEST BATH

Not that residents necessarily have any problem with the members of the Board of Selectmen. But if they do in the future, and they vote accordingly at Thursday’s special town meeting, townspeople will have the option of recalling elected municipal officials.

“Elected officials,” in West Bath’s case, equates to Board of Selectmen.

Voters will consider the recall ordinance and many other issues as they gather at West Bath Elementary School, at 6 p.m. If business is not completed on Thursday, the meeting will be continued at 6 p.m. Friday.

Because elections are now held in November, the May 23-24 meeting becomes a special town meeting instead of the annual town meeting, Town Administrator Jonathan Davis said.

Davis said that a review task force worked with the town’s legal team to review what sort of procedure might be required to recall elected officials.

“There’s no such method in place,” he said. “It was felt in the town that there should be some method the town could take.”

Residents will vote on spending articles that amount to a $1,039,689 municipal budget. That’s a $51,000 increase from the spending they authorized last year.

The increase stems from legal fees in the town’s ongoing lawsuit against Regional School Unit 1, and an increase in the roads budget, Davis said.

In Article 34, voters will consider spending $10,000 to convert the fire department to natural gas. A natural gas pipeline already is available near the building, Davis said. The town would recoup the cost of the conversion in two or three years, he said.

In a “housekeeping” article, voters will decide if they want to officially recognize the fire department as a town department.

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