By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — The town has mailed off the invitations and ordered the banners.

While it might seem like such fanfare is reserved for holiday celebrations, getting the word out about Naples Annual Town Meeting is a priority because the date has changed from June to April. It’s April 30 — to be exact.

“Just a reminder to all that the annual town meeting will be Tuesday night at the town gym, beginning at 6 p.m.,” Naples Town Manager John Hawley said. 

“Postcards were mailed a few weeks ago to every mailbox in Naples,” Hawley said.

“We did order banners and those should be going up any day now, just waiting for those to arrive,” he said.

“The annual town reports are currently at the printers. But the warrant articles and budget information can all be found on our website and paper copies can be picked up at the town office,” he said.

The town’s website address is www.townofnaples.org

Voting residents will be looking at a $12,461,292 proposed budget. About $4 million will go toward the town’s operating cost, and the remainder goes toward the budgets of Cumberland County and the School Administrative District (SAD) 61.

This year, the voters will also consider multiple ordinances or ordinance amendments.

Those include: the Town of Naples Sign Ordinance, the Chimney Ordinance (which would allow metalbestos piping), the Aquatic Invasive Plant Survey Ordinance, the Marine Safety Ordinance article changes and the Marine Division Enforcement Ordinance. Also, the Naples Land Use Ordinance codification will need voter approval.

Additionally, voters will decide if they would like to repeal or remove the reference to signs in the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance as well as repealing the Changeable Sign Ordinance. 

There was some reasoning behind why the date of the town meeting was switched.

Sometime in 2017 or 2018, during a Naples Board of Selectmen’s meeting, a resident suggested holding the annual town meeting on a Saturday like it had been in the past. The selectmen decided to give it a try in 2018.

For longer than a decade, the Naples Town Meeting has been held on a weekday, typically a Wednesday night, in June. Prior to that time period, town meeting was held on a Saturday in the late winter.

Last year, the town held it on a Saturday in June.

Afterwards, there was an outcry from the public that there are too many time conflicts — such as sports games, graduation ceremonies and family barbecues — during the weekends in June.

So, the town held a nonbinding straw poll to see which time frame people preferred. After hearing the results, the selectmen chose April 30 as the date.