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Sebago approves nuisance-alarm ordinance after wording correction clarifies 'three false alarms' limit
Summary
Voters approved a nuisance-alarm ordinance after the fire chief and residents flagged a missing numeric limit; the moderator ruled the correct interpretation is three false alarms per year and the body approved the ordinance as written following procedural debate over whether the change was substantive.
Voters approved Article Four, the town’s nuisance-alarm ordinance, after public questions exposed a missing numeric limit in the published draft.
Resident Beth Bucks asked where the number for allowable 'false alarms' appeared in the draft. Fire Chief Phil Strike responded that a typographical error had omitted the number and that the intended text — carried in earlier drafts — allows 'up to three false alarms per year' before fines would apply.
Speakers debated whether inserting that number would be a substantive amendment that requires withdrawal and re-referral or a nonsubstantive correction (e.g., paragraph numbering and typographical fixes). The moderator explained that substantive changes are not in order at town meeting and that only nonsubstantive fixes could be made on the floor. After a motion to invoke the previous question (to cut off debate) passed, voters approved Article Four by raised-card vote.
The vote resolves the local confusion for enforcement: the ordinance’s penalty provisions will apply starting at the fourth alarm, consistent with the fire chief’s explanation. Town staff were advised to correct the numbering/typographical errors in the published ordinance text for clarity in future publications.
